The Hangover: Leverage Style
by TheKillerTigerbunny
Summary: The morning after a crazy night, Parker, Hardison and Eliot can't remember a thing. There's no telling what they got themselves into, and worse than that, Nate is missing and Sophie is ready to kill them! Some Hardison/Parker, but 100% Leverage fun!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you all like it. If you want more, make sure to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage.

Chapter 1: 

"Nate?" The clear voice answered urgently through the phone. He could tell she was nervous and worried. He hung his head a little lower, and took a preparatory breath.

"Sophie, its Eliot." He could hear the pause of dissatisfaction and uncomfortably switched the phone from one ear to the other. He felt the tension through the phone. Without even seeing her, he knew that she crossed arms. He glanced over at Parker and Hardison who sat on the steps a few feet away. Parker leaned forward, biting her lip and Hardison rubbed the bridge of his nose, head drooping down.

The dead silence continued for a few seconds, Eliot knew she was waiting for him. Through all the battles he fought, this was one of the worst.

"It's bad, Sophie."

"What happened?"

"We lost Nate."

Another long silence.

Parker stood up and walked over to listen in on the conversation. She leaned in, pulling Eliot down a little as he turned the phone so they could both hear, not that Sophie was saying anything at the moment.

"Sophie, you there?" Eliot glanced nervously over at Parker who returned his gaze. It had been far too long since she had spoken and he was half afraid she hung up. Without warning-

"YOU ARE BLOODY REDICULOUS!" Both Parker and Eliot jumped back, Eliot immediately pulling the phone away from his ear. Even with the phone arm distance, her voice was loud and clear reverberating like a loudspeaker. Even Hardison looked up at the phone in surprise. "ALL YOU HAD TO BLOODY DO WAS GET ON THE BLOODY PLANE THIS MORNING! HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT? IT'S LIKE YOU NEED TWENTY-FOUR HOUR SUPERVISION! I'M NOT YOUR BLOODY MOTHER!" Eliot and Parker looked at one another, eyes a little wider now. "IF YOU DON'T FIND NATE AND GET ON THE BLOODY AIRPLANE BY TOMORROW MORNING I WILL PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND KILL YOU ALL MYSELF!"

"Soph-," Eliot tried to say something but was cut off again.

"HERE I AM, PULLING A FIVE PERSON CON BY MYSELF. DO YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT…NO, HOW IMPOSSIBLE THAT IS?"

"Sophie" Eliot tried again. Parker chewed on her finger nail.

"NO ELIOT SPENCER, YOU DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD. YOU BETTER BLOODY FIND NATE AND GET BACK HERE BY TOMORROW OR ELSE." Without another word the phone went dead.

The three were silent all surprised by the verbal thrashing they had just received.

"Does she sound more British when she's angry?" Parker questioned. Eliot gave her a look. Leave it to Parker to add something irrelevant to what was already a difficult situation.

"Do you have any ideas Hardison?" Eliot looked over at him expecting a miracle.

"What am I supposed to do with a toothpick and roll of duct tape?" He huffed, flicking his toothpick to the ground.

"Damnit Hardison!" Hardison jumped up from his seat.

"Damnit Eliot!" Both glared at each other.

"Just do some nerdy thing and find Nate already!"

"Oh, you did not just call my gift with technology a…nerdy thing."

"Well, that's what it is isn't it?" Eliot glared at him.

"Guys stop it." Parker whined. Hardison ignored her.

"Oh, well, why don't you just go punch something; I mean, that's _your_ thing right?"

"I hope you have a robot or geek squad member coming to rescue you, because you are really going to need some help when I get a hold of you."

Hardison stood up a little taller, pulling his fists in balls and bouncing back and forth like a nutty boxer urging Eliot to 'bring it on'. Eliot didn't move. The edges of his lips twitched into a smile that only Parker caught and he motioned Hardison forward.

Parker rolled her eyes. "We are in so much trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

_**24 hours earlier**_

"We are right on schedule guys; great job today." Nate's smile was genuine.

They were all eating dinner in a restaurant where the tables and walls were clear and held exotic fish and coral. A few fish swam under his plate towards Hardison on the other side.

"How's Sophie doing with the con?" Eliot asked, slicing into his steak.

"She's a little…perturbed, because she is having trouble keeping the president of VexCorp busy until we can finish the job, but she's handling it well." Nate glossed over the phone calls she'd made to him this past week, yelling about how unfair it was that she had to play three characters simultaneously, without a team to back her up.

Hardison choked on his bread. "Did you just say that Sophie was only perturbed?" Parker smirked and looked down at the clown fish as it followed her finger around her plate.

"Well…maybe a little more than that."

"Irate is more like it. I don't even want to know how many times she called Nate a "bloody idiot." Hardison laughed loudly as he took a sip of water. A few guests looked over.

"Hardison… have you been listening in on my conversations with Sophie?" Nate's eyes narrowed.

"What? Did you not forget that you hypnotized me a few months ago, or is trustworthiness only necessary when _you_ want help?"

"I'm in charge, I make the calls. Don't listen in on conversations that are none of your business." Nate's tone was calm, but the temperature in the restaurant dropped twenty degrees. He didn't want to admit that the conversations weren't always work related. Up until recently they bickered, but now, their on-off relationship was moving up and he wasn't going to let Hardison ruin what they were finally getting right.

Hardison grabbed his napkin from his lap, threw it on his plate and made an attempt to get up and storm out. Parker caught him by his arm.

"Hardison stay."

Hardison looked at her intently. She gave a sweet smile, the one that he could never refuse and he sat back in his seat and heaved a sigh.

Parker looked between the three men. She had hoped that this trip would be a chance for them to get closer, but despite an overwhelming success in their side job that they had just finished, the guys were more distant than ever. Eliot was uncomfortable because he hated his fancy surroundings, including this dinner. He was dressed in a nice suit, but he tugged at his collar every so often and looked at his watch. Hardison was still feeling betrayed by Nate and refused to let Nate forget. Parker was surprised that he even agreed to go on the side mission in the first place. Nate continued to keep his emotions and plans a secret, which really got to Hardison, but where it bothered Hardison, it had the opposite effect on Parker. Secret keeping was the one way Parker felt she connected with Nate more than the others. They both kept people at a distance and didn't trust so easily. He knew how she felt.

"So" Eliot coughed. There was an awkward silence.

Nate and the team were originally in Boston working a con when one of his long time friends called with an emergency. He immediately requested help from his team. Parker was obviously the first to offer her thieving skills wholeheartedly. Eliot followed suit, and Hardison reluctantly agreed in the end, probably because Parker kept encouraging it. Sophie however, put her foot down. She complained that they were in the middle of a con and explained that the team couldn't leave Ramona Ellerby to take on VexCorp by herself. Nate had explained that it was a short con and would only take a few days, and that the team would have to wait for the VexCorp gala at the end of the week before they could finish the con in Boston anyway. It was obvious though, that Sophie's motives were not as selfless as she tried to make them. Apparently, Nate and this old friend had a long history, part of which was a romantic one.

Parker looked around the table. Eliot fingered his collar again, giving a grimace. Nate sat calmly staring at the fish swimming around in the table, and Hardison messed with angry birds on his apparently unreleased version of the new iphone.

"Why don't we have some fun tonight?" Parker perked looking at the others.

"What did you have in mind?" Hardison asked without looking up from his game.

"Let's steal something." Her eyes went mischievous and her voice immediately became dark and dangerous.

"No" the three men said simultaneously.

Parker gave a face, and continued. "I already have a mark." She said.

"Parker, we only have tonight, let's just go back to our rooms and get some sleep." Nate was exasperated and gave her a fatherly look.

"Are you really going to make us sit around all night? You owe us remember. We didn't have to come with you and Hardison certainly didn't have to-"

"Hey now, I don't want that mentioned ever again." Hardison interrupted, looking up from his iphone.

Eliot laughed and took the last bite of his steak and then a swig of beer.

"We could go to the bar?" Eliot suggested. "There's a great country bar down the road."

"Ugh, not another country bar, I swear, it's always cowboy boots here, line dancing there." Hardison rolled his eyes.

"Well, I liked it when we went last time. You know, when Eliot got up on stage, besides those boots are great." Parker smiled at the memory.

"The only reason you loved it was because you were able to stuff everybody's wallets in your cowboy boots." Hardison retorted.

"Whatever," Parker shrugged.

Nate was now ignoring the conversation and Parker was getting more discouraged by the minute.

"Like I said earlier, we could steal the diamond that's here in town."

Nate, Hardison and Eliot all looked up at her at once.

"You want to steal the 'Lady Luck' diamond?" Nate asked suspiciously.

Parker nodded.

"I thought that ring was already stolen three weeks ago." Eliot asked quizzically. He motioned the waitress coming over to get him another beer then gave her a wink. She blushed and sauntered off with more of a bounce in her step.

As Nate opened his mouth to speak, Parker quickly interrupted him. "Yes, it was. We can steal it back! I heard from a source that it hasn't left the city. Aren't we, you know…the people who steal from the rich and give to the poor?"

Hardison rolled his eyes. "That's Robin Hood Parker, we aren't like that. Besides, who are you planning on giving the 'Lady Luck' diamond back to, the other rich snooty people who owned the diamond ring before? They are just as greedy as whoever else stole it."

"Wait, how do you guys know so much about the diamond already?" Nate asked cautiously. Eliot shrugged and looked over at Parker.

Parker gave an innocent smile. "I just like to do research when I go on vacation."

"This isn't a vacation." Nate inserted. "And you, Hardison, were you encouraging this?"

"I'm the computer guy, I know what all of you do on your computers." He glanced over at Eliot, smirked and gave a knowing wink. Eliot clamped his hands and gave Hardison a threatening glare.

Nate looked around at the table. It was always this way when Sophie was gone, just like the last time she left. Everyone bickered and fought. He had had a conversation with her about a month after she returned about how difficult it was to get the loyalty he used to have with them. She had said all they need is some support. Nate glanced over at the three. Parker sat tight lipped and discouraged between the two men who were bickering back and forth. Nate knew that if there was anyone that he wanted to be supportive of, it was Parker. Her entire life, she had been the one on the outside. Sure she was quirky and sometimes just plain crazy, but she deserved his support more than anyone.

"-Hardison, if you even think about setting up an e-harmony profile for me to meet other men in the area I will break your fingers." Eliot was leaning forward shooting daggers at Hardison, who sat back with his arms propped behind his head.

"I agree with Parker." Nate spoke up quickly, knowing that when Eliot made threats, he followed through on them. The three looked up at him, all with separate expressions. Eliot was frustrated, Parker was elated and Hardison rolled his eyes.

"Yes!" Parker exclaimed, smiling broadly at Nate. "So here's my plan-"

Nate raised his hand silencing her.

"I'm not agreeing with you about the diamond, I'm agreeing with you about us having a little bit of fun."

"You're serious?" Eliot looked at him like he had grown another head.

Parker deflated, obviously disappointed. Her idea of fun was stealing the diamond.

"Yep."

"How the hell are we…" Eliot motioned to the four of them, "going to have fun together?"

Nate was usually silent for dramatic effect, but this time, he had no earthly idea how the four of them were going to have fun.

Silence again ensued.

"I have my xbox upstairs. We could play some Halo 2?" Hardison offered.

Eliot rolled his eyes.

"I already beat you at that today." Parker responded, obviously still set on the diamond. Hardison sat his shoulders a little further back.

"I let you win." He mumbled poking at the remaining vegetables on his plate.

"Where is my beer? It's been almost 10 minutes already!" Eliot complained glancing around looking for the lady that he had winked at.

With that, Parker jumped out of her seat. The other three made their way to stand up, attempting a gentlemanly courtesy.

"I've got a great idea!" Parker smiled wide and Nate was sure he could see all her teeth.

"Well…what is it?" Hardison asked.

"Hold on!" She said, pushing her seat back unceremoniously and darting away towards the center of the restaurant and out of site.

The three men sat there for a minute or so before Eliot piped up.

"That girl is so weird some times."

"No she's not." Hardison shot back.

"You know what I mean, Hardison." Eliot glared at Hardison and then remained quiet.

Nate inwardly groaned. Not only was Parker in charge of the entertainment, which would probably revolve around thievery, but his muscle and his brains on the team were never going to be able to have fun.

After a few more minutes of silence, Parker was walked back holding four drinks. She was like a cat, able to swerve and dance her way around tables juggling four drinks. She made it look effortless.

"Everyone take one." She smiled handing each of them a drink.

"What's this?" Nate asked inquiringly, though, he knew it was something alcoholic by the smell of it. Normally it would have been gone before Parker could describe the contents, but ever since his recent encounters with Sophie, the desire just wasn't there.

"We are going to get drunk tonight." She said matter of factly.

"Have you ever even gotten drunk Parker? You might not like being so uncoordinated." Eliot asked.

"I guess you will have to find out, won't you, besides, I bet you I could still jump off a building just fine."

Eliot gave a smirk. "It's not the jumping part I'm worried about Parker, it's the landing that's going to take you by surprise."

Nate shook his head trying to hand the glass back to her. "I'm not going to drink anything tonight, sorry, Parker. I'll probably just head up to bed."

Her eyes got wide and she looked Nate straight in the eyes. "You promised fun tonight."

"Parker, I'm just not interested."

"Just this one drink, I promise. _I_ won't make you drink anything else."

He gave her an inquisitive look, and then nodded. She gave an immediate glow of satisfaction as she gave Hardison his glass.

"Okay. To a successful job this past week and to a…fun night." Nate's speech was somewhat unconvincing, but each of the three clanked their drinks together with 'cheers' and started to drink.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The sun seeped through the window and everything was silent in the room.

Eliot was the first to open his eyes. There was a pounding in his head, despite the stillness of the room. He ran his fingers through his dripping hair, and sat up uncomfortably. The room was humid and he was miserable. He let out a groan as he attempted to get off the couch. Never in his life, even after liberating Croatia, did he wake up with such a tired and aching body.

He threw his sunglasses over his eyes and surveyed the room. Everything was trashed. He hated to think what the bill would be in the morning. He tried to wrap his mind around what happened last night, but he couldn't remember a thing. He made his way into the bathroom.

Temporarily setting his sunglasses down next to the sink, he washed his face with the cool water from the faucet, and then painfully reached down to the floor to grab the towel to wipe his face off with. He looked at himself in the mirror in disgust. His eyes were bloodshot and he had a bruise on the top corner of his left cheek. It turned temporarily purple the moment he touched it. He squinted moving his head closer to the mirror, no longer looking at himself, but the odd form behind him. He grabbed his glasses and slowly turned around.

There was Hardison. He was hunched over in the bathtub, ass in the air with what looked like a blonde mullet. Eliot chuckled to himself and put his sunglasses back on.

"Hardison." Eliot gave a soft shake.

"Not now Nana. Ten more minutes." He swatted at Eliot, snorted and went back to sleep.

"Damnit Hardison, wake up." Eliot was not in the mood. Hardison didn't budge.

"Hardison." He gruffed, and kicked him with his cowboy boot so that Hardison rolled over onto his side.

"Ugh. What happened?" Hardison moaned as he moved to get up. The wig fell into the bathtub.

"No idea. This place is a wreck." He glanced over at the toilet seat. "How did we manage to crack the toilet bowl?" Eliot shook his head and looked over at Hardison. "What the hell happened last night?"

Hardison didn't respond immediately, making a big effort to understand what Eliot was saying with the pounding in his head. He worked his way out of the bathtub, groaning in pain every five seconds and stretching his arms over his head. He rubbed his head a few times and went to get a better look at the toilet bowl. Sure enough, it was cracked. The inside was still clean, though a few beer bottles hovered just beneath the surface of the water bowl.

"I have never been in this much pain." Hardison complained, arching his back for a bigger stretch, and then reflexively contracting in discomfort. "Why does my ass hurt?"

Eliot gave him a look and ignored the question.

"Do you remember anything from last night?"

Eliot could see Hardison racking his brain for the memories, but knew even before Hardison answered that it was hopeless.

"Nothing. I've never been that smashed before."

Eliot had to agree. He was usually the master at holding his liquor but somehow he must have gone overboard and blacked out.

Hardison followed Eliot into the room where his eyes went wide.

"Wow, what did we do?" Hardison picked up a wad of cash and threw it to Eliot. Eliot caught it then shrugged as he walked to the other end of the room and straightened a painting on the wall.

"Well, where are Parker and Nate? There is no way that just the two of us partied this hard together last night." Hardison's jaw continued to hang open as he surveyed the wreckage.

All of a sudden they heard a quiet groan. They looked at one another and started flipping over the piles of blankets to find the noise. They heard it again, but couldn't find the source.

"Parker" Hardison called out, crouching on the floor to look under the couch. With her tiny frame, she could be hidden anywhere.

"What's going on?" Her voice was ragged.

Both Hardison and Eliot made eye contact and then looked up. Then they saw her. A duct taped shaped Parker was firmly stuck to the ceiling. The only thing not covered in duct tape was her face as her hair hung down like a golden chandelier. Even her arms where flattened against the wall.

Eliot and Hardison gave one another a horrified look and quickly dragged the couch over to pull her down.

Her eyes were bloodshot, just like theirs and she looked just as clueless to what was going on.

"This is sort of cool." She mumbled to no one in particular looking down at her duct taped body.

After Eliot began pulling the duct tape off of her arms she grabbed a hold of Hardison's shoulders. He reached up gently, keeping her steady as Eliot continued with her torso and legs. She dropped down gracefully despite the grimace her face made.

Hardison looked at her and gently pushed some of her hair behind her ear.

"You okay?" He asked gently. He stepped off the couch and helped her down, though if anything, she might have been keeping him steady.

She nodded. "What happened?"

"No idea." Eliot responded looking around the room again.

A thump in the closet caught everyone's attention. Parker stood up taller, Hardison backed up a step and Eliot crouched ready for whatever was in the closet.

"Maybe it's Nate" Hardison offered.

Eliot laughed at himself and pulled the door open. Without warning a flash a bright red and yellow shot out of the closet like a bullet.

Eliot jumped back and Hardison let out a fearful yelp and fell backwards onto the couch.

Across the room, miniature claws clutched the top of the window's curtain rod. It was a parrot.

"What the hell…" Eliot stared at it shocked. Of all the things hiding in the closet, a tropical bird was one of the lowest on his list.

"Parker is mine; you can't have her, squawk!" The bird's voice rang out. The three looked at one another.

"I like it!" Parker said immediately.

"Parker, it could have diseases or something." Hardison scrunched his nose.

"Parker is mine." The bird screeched again. Hardison could have sworn it was looking directly at him.

He stepped closer to Parker, but she was already over to the window kicking some duct tape, and broken glass off the end table and standing on it, reaching up.

"Parker, don't, just leave it." Hardison called, but she ignored him, reaching her finger out. The bird twisted its head around looking at the others, then stepped its claws onto Parker's finger. She triumphantly jumped down from the end table.

Hardison crossed his arms. "So where's Nate?"

He looked over at Eliot. They spent a few minutes checking the other rooms. This one was Hardison's. They searched the others, Eliot's, Parkers and Nate's (opened via Hardison's digital hotel room key generator) but he was nowhere to be found. His room was clean, even the bed was still made.

Parker's eyes rose in fear. "I think we killed Nate," she whispered in horror.

Eliot rolled his eyes. It was difficult to take her seriously when she had a pet parrot on her shoulder that every so often asked for crackers or threatened Hardison.

"We just need to think." Eliot said confidently. "What do you remember from last night" he looked at both of them simultaneously. The bird inched over on her shoulder as she looked deep in thought.

Hardison spoke up. "I remember the dinner. Nate was there for that, but after that, I don't know, it just goes fuzzy." Eliot nodded.

"Yeah, I remember the dinner, but is there anything else? Anything at all?"

Parker shook her head.

"Ow!" Hardison yelped and jumped up off the bed. "Tell that parrot to stay away from me!" He reached for his left ear and rubbed it.

"Stop being a baby Hardison, it's a parrot." Eliot rolled his eyes.

Hardison walked over to the window squinting as Parker sat cross legged on the bed and Eliot leaned back in a chair.

"Well, we obviously missed our flight." Hardison inserted trying to squint up to the sky then walking back into the more dimly lit room.

"No kidding. Sophie is going to be pissed." Eliot glared at him. "All we need to do is find Nate." There was a pause. "I guess we should just start at the last place we remember and work our way from there."

Hardison nodded. Parker shrugged and surreptitiously leaned the parrot closer to Hardison.

Eliot's confidence was returning. "I mean, how much trouble could we get into in one night, right?"


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note:

Thank you for the reviews so far! We have readers from all around the world, including US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Singapore, Philippines, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Hong Kong, Thailand, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, France, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Latvia, Guam and Ireland.

I've written three chapters ahead, so the faster I get feedback (which includes constructive criticism) the faster I post! Even though I have most of the plot planned out,** if there is something ridiculous you'd like to see, let me know**, I might be able to work it in the story.

Below is the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

The next twenty minutes were spent changing out of their damp clothes. Hardison barely had any clothes to survive the night, as he dug an old shirt out of the back of his closet. He fumed, cursing the bird for the little presents it left all over the floor and over most of his clothes.

Hardison grumbled, and changed into his one surviving wrinkled shirt and denim jeans then walked into the hallway where Parker sat cross legged against the wall. She must have finished a few minutes before, because she seemed to be having a staring contest with the bird. Her hoodie sat perfectly against her form, the hood covering her head, with a few blonde locks sneaking their way out. The bird began to pull at the hoodie strings, but she snatched them away.

He stood there awkwardly, feeling like he was interrupting something, but without warning she looked up and gave him a grin. His heart warmed a little.

Eliot opened the door from his room and stepped out in a new set of clothes.

"You ready?" Eliot asked pulling his sunglasses down a little bit to make eye contact with them over the rim. They nodded, Parker hopped up as if she wasn't feeling the hangover like the other two, perched the bird on her shoulder and headed for the elevator.

On the way down, Hardison didn't know what to expect. The elevator music was normal and the rest of their hall was spotless. He was relieved to think that they might have been able to contain the crazy in just his room, though the parrot being in his closet still irked him.

His sense of assurance quickly vanished as they walked across the lobby towards the underwater restaurant. He noticed sideways glances from the receptionists at the front desk and watched as the maitre d standing at the entryway to the hotel widened his eyes (obviously spotting them) and narrowed them into tiny snakelike slits, lifting his nose up.

"Non, non, you cannot come back in here!" He held tightly onto a menu and tried to whoosh them away with it.

"Hey man, calm down, we just need to find our friend?" Eliot's tolerance for snootiness was at an ultimate low this morning.

"Non, zees is a fine dining restaurant, and you bumpkins treet eet like a circus!" He attempted another whooshing motion, but Eliot quickly grabbed the menu from him.

"Sir." He emphasized, with strained patience. "Could you tell us what happened? See, my friends and I," he motioned behind him, "don't quite remember what happened and we just need some information."

"I will not tell you, I will show you." The maitre d flipped onto his heels and walked into the restaurant. They slowly followed him in, Eliot's hope of a clean exit becoming more and more unlikely.

They walked closer to the table from last night, and to Eliot's dismay, the entire area was riddled with broken glass and china and lots of smashed food.

"In America, I believe you say, food fight, but being French, I would not expect this in a restaurant of such caliber, do you not agree?" He looked at Eliot pointedly.

"Hey, guy, do you have any crackers for my parrot?" Parker poked her head around Eliot jabbing the maitre d in the shoulder.

"Not now Parker." Eliot hissed back to her.

"The parrot is hungry!" She demanded, and pushed Eliot out of the way.

"Guy!" Parker insisted again.

The waiter, tried to pretend that he didn't spot the brightly colored parrot staring him straight in the face or the annoyingly persistent female standing next to him. Parker didn't budge, and he turned slowly and gave an 'I want to quit my job' look.

"What eez it that you want?" He asked staring down at her.

"I vant zee crackers!" She tried to mimic his accent. Eliot could see the vein in his neck surge and his eye begin to twitch.

The maitre d placed his hand on his chest and glared at her with a horrified and deeply insulted expression. His mouth bobbed open and shut like a fish. Parker stared at him expectantly without blinking oblivious.

Hardison stood with a grin, trying to cover it up with a cough. Eliot just rolled his eyes. He was sure by the end of this trip that the amount of eye rolling he was doing would cause his eyes to end up in the back of his head permanently.

The maitre d gave a curt not and stormed off toward the kitchen. A few waiters looked over at them pointing and whispering to one another.

"Wow, I'm glad Nate had expenses billed to his room." Hardison joked.

"This isn't funny Hardison." Eliot reprimanded.

"This isn't funny Hardison." The bird squawked. Hardison gave it a nasty look.

Eliot looked over at the two people snickering. He pointed at the woman in black and motioned her over. Her eyes widened, and she pointed at herself questioningly. Eliot nodded and she nervously made her way over.

"Can you tell me what happened here last night?" Eliot asked politely.

She gawked at him. "You honestly don't remember?"

He shook his head.

"You three, and the other guy, made this the best night of work ever!" She glanced around to spot Nate, but gave up and focused her attention back on Eliot.

Eliot gave an uncomfortable smile.

She lowered her voice and moved in a little bit. "I'm not allowed to say, but honestly, the way you told those gold-diggers off sitting with Hugh Heffner was hilarious." She was looking at Eliot.

He rubbed his hands uncomfortably.

"Here, I have a video of it." She reached in her pocket, looked around and pulled out her Android. She pressed a few buttons, looked around one more time then pressed play.

All three closed in over the phone and watched with amazement.

It started off with Eliot having a heated conversation with Hugh Heffner and his girls. There was a lot of noise and a few waiters were trying to escort him back to the table, but honestly, who could escort Eliot anywhere he didn't actually want to go.

"Is that-" Parker pointed behind Eliot and Heffner to see both Hardison and Nate dancing on the fish table. There were waiters running around with their hands to their ears because of the loud music that was now playing.

"We couldn't figure out how to turn it down, it's like someone hijacked the sound system." The waitress inserted as they watched. Parker gave Hardison a sly smile as he shrugged and looked around trying to disguise his obvious guilt.

"What is Nate doing?" Parker squeaked in laughter as she watched him dance. It looked like a drunken attempt at the Running Man.

"Where is Parker in all this?" Eliot asked the waitress. She glanced at Parker.

"Oh, she had her face smashed up against the fish tank most of the time."

They continued watching and noticed Hardison all of a sudden grabs Nate, stopping him mid Running Man and jumped up and down shouting something. It looked as though he was pointing towards the lobby but they couldn't hear what he said because the music was loud and the phones sound quality wasn't the best. They then proceeded to see Nate unceremoniously slip off the table and land face first on the ground.

"Ooh" Eliot cringed. That looked painful.

"What did you say there?" Parker asked referring to whatever Hardison had been jumping up and down about. He shrugged unsure himself what could have possibly gotten him that enthusiastic.

"He said he 'Storm Trooper'" the waitress answered for him.

"What?" All three choked out at the same time. She opened her mouth to explain but was interrupted.

"Excuse me!" The French accent pulled everybody to attention. The waitress quickly stashed the phone back in her pocket and averted the gaze of the maitre d as she b-lined to the kitchen.

He shoved a sleeve of crackers in Parker's hand. "Okay, you see vat you have done, now I must get back to work, and you must never come back to zis restaurant. Do you understand?" He began forcefully guiding them back towards the entrance and out into the hall. Finally they were unceremoniously dumped in the lobby and Hardison shot him a dirty gesture as he disappeared back through the restaurant entrance.

"Well now what?" Parker asked as she opened the sleeve of crackers and handed one to the parrot.

"I have no idea." Eliot sighed.

"What are you looking at?" Hardison called towards the front end of the lobby.

Both Parker and Eliot swiveled around to see who he was yelling at. It was a younger boy, mid teens in a uniform, opening doors for people who entered and exited the building.

"He keeps looking over at us like were criminals or something." Hardison complained, continuing to make faces in the boy's direction.

Parker and Eliot proceeded to give him a 'we are criminals, you idiot' look.

They made their way over to where the boy stood. He seemed to go white in fear.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just wanted to ask how everything went?" the boy's voice faltered.

"How what went?" Hardison pressed, still glaring at him.

"You know, the Comic Con Party?"

This made Eliot's eyes almost literally pop out of his head.

"We did not go to a comic convention" Eliot said resolutely, though fear was apparent in his voice, like he was afraid to admit something terrible that he'd done.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, I just…all I know is that you were all really excited to get some costumes after you", he nodded to Hardison, "saw the guests dressed as storm troopers leave the building."

Hardison was smiling from ear to ear. "Are you telling me that Eliot went to a Comic-Con Convention?"

Eliot gave him a nasty glare.

"Well, it was just the after party, and I'm not even sure if you ended up going. I called a cab for the four of you to take you to the best costume shop in town. I remember you said that you promised to have enough fun for the both of us, since I had to work."

Hardison softened his gaze and smiled at the boy. "We obviously must have, because we don't remember a thing!"

The boy pulled the door open for some guests then looked around searching for something.

"Where did you friend go? There were four of you weren't there?" He watched the parrot snatch another cracker from Parker's hand.

"We killed him." Parker answered simply.

Eliot gave her an aggravated look. The boys face became even more pale, chuckling like it was a joke, though he looked unsure at this point.

"We didn't kill him." Hardison offered. "We just…lost him." The boy didn't seem at ease.

"Can you just call us another cab for the same costume shop?" Eliot asked. The boy nodded, rushed away.

"Parker, you know we didn't kill Nate, right?" Eliot gave her an 'I can't believe we have to have this conversation' look.

"How do you know?" Parker asked.

"She's got a point, you know." Hardison added, getting an equally aggravated look from Eliot.

Eliot threw his hands in the air and ended the conversation. There was no point. He watched as the boy walked back over, giving a polite smile.

"It should be here in a few minutes. You can wait right outside the door." He motioned to the benches outside.

"Thanks, man." Eliot went in for a handshake, placing an undisclosed bill into his hand. The boy's face perked and he smiled as he opened the door for them.

They went out and sat on the bench with the heat on their faces. People walking buy pointed at the parrot.

"So who is going to replace Nate?" Parker asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No one Parker! We didn't kill Nate!"

"We killed Nate, squawk!" the bird chirped. Parker smiled and gave it another cracker.

Hardison smirked. "You see now why I hate that bird."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The taxi ride was less than pleasant. Hardison, Parker and Eliot had to squeeze into the back of the taxi together. Apparently the driver didn't trust customers to ride in the front with him.

"Cute bird." The taxi driver said, attempting some small talk. His eyes were warm, but Parker looked at him suspiciously through the rearview mirror, sizing him up the best she could. When no one answered, he focused back on the road and continued driving.

As minutes passed, Eliot squirmed to get comfortable. Parker sat neatly in the middle, while her new pet tried to sneak its way onto Eliot's shoulder. Hardison sat silently behind the driver without a peep. Every so often on a sharper turn, Parker would lean into him, and he couldn't help but relish the feeling. Only a few weeks ago, he'd thought he'd had a breakthrough with her. He vividly thought back to the moments when they were stepping off the train and she was suddenly in the mood for pretzels, but since then, there was nothing, zilch. He stole a quick glance in her direction, but she was busy eying the taxi driver's personal effects.

"So, when do you think Sophie will start getting suspicious?" Hardison asked, craning his neck in Parker and Eliot's direction.

Eliot glanced down at his watch. "Well, seeing as the plane should be landing in about 40 minutes, I'd say not that long."

Hardison nodded. They hit another sharp turn and Parker leaned again. Her head rested on his shoulder a second longer than he anticipated, but when he looked down her head was gone and she was handing another cracker to the parrot.

Within minutes the taxi stopped in front of a grotesque looking building with dead bodies hanging out of the upper windows and an infinite amount of fake spider web encasing every doorway. Eliot handed the taxi driver a bill, told him to stay, and pulled himself out of the yellow cab. Ghoulish sounds and cackling emanated from the entrance. Eliot seemed to be having an internal battle as to whether knowing what happened was in fact a good idea at all.

"Don't be so nervous, Eliot. It's only a costume shop." Hardison smirked as he started walking to the entrance. Eliot immediately grabbed Hardison, shoved him aside and walked confidently into the building.

Parker gave him a disdainful look and walked in after him. Hardison, now somewhat put out, followed in behind, though he immediately brightened as he took in his new scenery.

The walls were encased with paraphernalia from every horror and science fiction movie he'd ever seen. He walked around spotting fake blood, fangs, wigs (including the one that was now lying in the bathtub), fake vomit, every costume imaginable, all housed in this one shop. He'd seen costume shops, but this put all the others to shame.

"My favorite customers have returned! A chubby man of Eastern European descent called out to them. He was gave a belly laugh as he made his way around the counter up to them. Parker had since disappeared into the mounds of clothing, the parrot now waddling aimlessly around the room, flapping its wings every time it set off a motion sensored howl by the werewolf a few feet away.

For a second his smile disappeared, he looked sternly into Eliot and Hardison's eyes. "No refunds."

"We don't want to return anything; we just need to ask you a few questions." The man looked relieved, but his eyes still shifted between them as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.

"Then, how can I help you?"

Hardison placed an arrogant hand in front of Eliot, implying that he would take it from here.

"My man, last night, we might have purchased some items for a certain convention in town." Hardison gave a wicked grin. Eliot rolled his eyes.

The man nodded. "Yes, you purchased quite a few costumes."

"Great" Hardison said. "And I assume there were four of us here." The man nodded again but looked distracted over Hardison's shoulder to where Parker went.

"I don't know exactly which ones you and the girl decided to wear, but you have kept me in business for another year," he said clapping Hardison on the shoulder.

"Okay, so here is the important question" he paused for dramatic effect, "what did Eliot end up wearing?" He gestured to Eliot.

"You are such a dumb-ass." Eliot barked as he barged away down a back aisle. Eliot realized he hated this place almost as much as he hated wearing a penguin suit. Everything was scratchy or rubbery. His heart beat faster not sure whether it was better to know or to stay blissfully unaware of what embarrassing costume he'd worn. It was one thing dressing up for a con, where you dressed up as a real person in real clothes; it was quite another dressing up like an alien from outer space. He shook his head and shoved the alien costume behind a bunch of vampire outfits out of site.

As he walked back to the far back, he seemed to be moving further and further away from reality. What was natural light from the entrance now transformed into a dimly lit blacklight. A few motion sensors went off cackling at him. Then he saw Parker standing dead still.

"What is it Parker?" Eliot waved his hand in front of her face then glanced at the wall to try and understand what it was that she was looking at.

Her face was pale and blank. All he could see was a door with a bolted lock latched on it and some really tacky costumes.

"Snap out of it Parker." She stood stalk still as if she didn't hear him. Finally, out of sheer exhaustion of being in this shop he threw her over his shoulder fireman style and headed for the door, her head bobbing the entire way out.

"You should be arrested" Eliot heard Hardison say to the shop owner. "Star Wears powns Star Trek any day of the week." Hardison glanced over his shoulder.

"Hey, what happened?" His face blanched as he watched Eliot carry Parker out of the building, and ran out after them. The bird hopped after him as fast has he could, squawking, 'Parker is mine, you can't have her.'

Outside, the sun was bright and Eliot's migraine still hadn't dissipated from earlier. He sat her down in the taxi, feet dangling out and kneeled in front, Hardison leaning in from behind.

"Parker." Eliot snapped his fingers in front of her.

"What." She answered annoyed. He looked at her like she had officially lost her mind.

"Are you not aware that I had to carry you out of there just now?" Eliot searched her eyes. She looked away.

"I just…got tired of walking." She answered nonchalantly, but knew herself how lame that sounded.

"Parker." Hardison said sternly.

She looked up at him, crossed her arms and stuck her feet in the cab and faced forward.

"Come on fella's, you're letting all the cool air out." The taxi driver gave a 'get in' hand gesture. Eliot grabbed the parrot that kept pecking at his ankles then walked around the car and jumped in as Hardison shoved Parker into the middle seat.

"Next stop is 300 4th Street downtown." Hardison spoke up to the driver as they drove on to their next destination.

Eliot looked over at him questioningly.

Hardison gave him a nod and grinned. "That's right, you went to Comic Con." Eliot sighed and moved his attention back to a tight lipped Parker staring forward.

"You know you still need to explain Parker." Eliot leaned to get a better look at her as the parrot crawled across his legs and into Parker's lap.

She looked down at her hands, rubbing them unsurely. Hardison reached over and squeezed her hand giving her an encouraging nod.

"Fine." She huffed. "Horses."

"What?" Eliot questioned. Hardison already understood, but remained silent.

"See, you know how I can't resist locked doors, right?" Parker looked up at Eliot.

"I'm lost now. What does a door have to do with horses?" Eliot knew she spoke in riddles, but today was not the day, and despite the blows that he'd taken to the head throughout his life, he didn't think it was as obvious as Hardison made it out to be.

"Just. See. The door had the deadbolt on it. I was about to open it, but…the damned horse costume was right next to it."

Eliot looked at Hardison for help. This still wasn't making any sense.

"You know, the horse costume. She doesn't like horses." Hardison helped.

It was slowly starting to make sense to Eliot now. It had been a few years since the con back in his hometown where she had accidentally fallen into a pen with a prized racing horse. He had completely forgotten about it until now. His heart strained a little remembering what he left there.

"I thought you got over that?"

"I did! But when they just come out of nowhere, I don't know." She went silent.

"Don't worry Parker." Hardison inserted. "I know something that will cheer you up."

She looked up at him questioningly and he threw his arm around her.

"Eliot's future looks…green."

Hardison's two cohorts were lost, but Parker immediately warmed up to Hardison's touch, while Eliot started to have the sinking feeling things were about to get a lot worse.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note:

For those of you who have been concerned that this story will be exactly like 'The Hangover' movies - don't worry,you will not find that Nate was unconscious on the roof of this story. Yes, there will be a few things that are slightly similar, but the plot is different, and the danger of losing Nate will be real. As the story unfolds things will become more and more dangerous. I hope you are ready!

This chapter is short, but don't worry, as you know, I update quick. Don't forget those reviews!

Chapter 6:

The taxi driver had a knack for understanding his customers. He'd always been able to see straight through to their motives, personal ambitions, desires and fears just by how they acted for the twenty minutes in the back seat of his taxi. This group of misfits on the other hand, had him completely baffled. They didn't seem to get along at all and bickered nonstop. He wasn't going to complain though, so far, the muscular male on the passenger's side was paying him generously for his time. He listened intently to their conversation.

"Did you know that these conventions started almost 40 years ago?" Hardison's eyes were wide and couldn't keep still in his seat.

Parker shook her head, looking politely interested in the 20 minute narration Hardison was delivering about the history of comic conventions. Eliot thumped his head against the passenger window in agony as if he had given up all hope of escape.

"Did you know that when it started, there were only about 300 people that showed up, now there are over 130,000!" Hardison emphasized the last part.

"Ooh. That's a lot of stealing for one weekend." Parker grinned, rubbing her hands together like an evil genius.

"These are teenaged nerds Parker, what makes you think they have any money." This was the first sign that Eliot was actually listening on the conversation. He slowly gave up on the head thumping and just rested his head up against the window, wishing to die a quick and painless death.

"We are called enthusiasts, and you know, if there was a 'Let's beat each other up' convention you would be the first in line. You like your thing, I like mine." Hardison was irritated.

"That's called Fight Club Hardison. You should come sometime, learn a thing or two."

Parker sat quietly in the middle. She wasn't typically known for voicing her opinion. Usually Nate was the one to untangle their mess, but he was gone. Parker had a sinking feeling in her gut that this was her fault, but she wasn't about to admit it. The driver looked back at her a few times giving a warm smile, but she remained blank and unresponsive. She didn't like other people in her business. Archie, her father figure years ago told her never to say anything to a taxi driver or bar tender because they can read you like a book.

After more facts about the convention and more bickering between Hardison and Eliot, they finally made it to the convention. There were police officers guiding cars around the building either towards drop off checkpoints or the parking garage. They pulled up to the curb, weaving their way around people in the most ridiculous costumes and other taxi's, vans and cars.

The taxi driver arched around to look at them face to face. "Here's my card. Give me a call if you need a pick-up, yeah?"

Eliot took the card and glanced at the name. "Thanks, Emil." He handed Emil another bill, opened the door and climbed out, this time with more dread.

As Emil drove away, the three of them stood facing the magnificent entrance of the convention center. There were about 50 steps that led up, a small crowd accumulating at the entrance as convention workers took the tickets.

"We have a problem." Hardison exclaimed.

Parker and the parrot looked over simultaneously freaking Hardison out.

"What?" Eliot asked as he glanced over at someone in a Mario outfit, with red overalls, followed by a taller friend in blue overalls.

"You have to buy the tickets in advance. They get sold out before the convention."

"Well, we got in yesterday, didn't we?" Parker asked. Hardison shrugged. Honestly, he wasn't sure if they even made it into the convention. "Maybe we couldn't get in." She thought out loud.

"Parker." Eliot sighed. "You can get into a vault thirty stories in the air, with motion sensors and a TL-30 security system and you aren't sure if you could get into a convention center with five rent-a-cops?"

She gave him a sly smile as if to say he was probably right.

Hardison looked over at Parker. "Okay mama, get us in."

This brightened Parker's spirits. They'd been in a funk all morning wandering around clueless. Finally she had some semblance of a mission, something to focus her energy on besides the constant back and forth between the warring brothers in the taxi cab.

"Well, the roof entrance is a possibility, but there are just too many people." She said more to herself than the others. "There's back door entrances, shipping and receiving entrance, emergency exits, ehh." She bit her lip in concentration.

"The best way is through the front." She said.

"Okay." Hardison said, unsure of how they could make it in. They weren't even dressed the part.

"You see at one doorway there." Parker pointed at the doorway on the far left side.

"Yeah." Eliot answered.

"It looks like that's the exit door."

"Okay." Hardison responded, waiting for some new revelation.

"That's our in." She gave him her winning smile and Hardison melted a little, nodding, despite the fact that he had no idea how the exit would help them.

As if reading his thoughts, though, unlike Hardison still able to speak, Eliot questioned, "so how is the exit going to help us Parker?"

She leaned her head, giving a maddened look, as if it were obvious.

"Look!" She pointed. "You see, they are getting stamped."

Eliot squinted, and sure enough, rent-a-cop #5 was stamping hands.

"I get it!" Hardison piped up. Eliot looked over at him, giving a look for him to explain.

"They give stamps so that people that need to leave, but still want back in, can come back later on in the day." Hardison answered. Parker nodded to him smiling.

They watched as someone exited the building, received a stamp and walked down the 50 steps. He walked so close to them that Eliot shifted to see the stamp.

"He didn't get a stamp." Eliot exclaimed. "There's nothing on his hand."

"You need a black light." Both Hardison and Parker answered simultaneously.

"So all we need to do-" Parker continued, "is steal a stamp and stamp pad, then walk in over there." She pointed to another door where a few stragglers held their hands out as an entrance worker waved a black light over it, then motioned them in.

It only took a few minutes for Parker to walk up to the exit, looking confused and flustered, trip over a few things and furtively grab the desired items. Parker was so skilled that Eliot and Hardison didn't even see her do it until she walked back over with a grin and slipped the contents of her pocket into Hardison's hand.

Hardison covertly stamped each of their hands and they went up to the side entrance of returning members. They walked in without a hitch, though the convention security guard eyed the parrot suspiciously, most likely unsure whether it was fake or real. Luckily, he was quickly distracted by an enormous Minotaur outfit trying to squeeze in through the doorway.

Hardison's eyes were wide, taking in the amazing view.

"I've died and gone to geek heaven!" Hardison started, but was interrupted by Eliot.

"You mean geek hell."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note:

Thank you all so much for the reviews, it keeps me motivated to continue writing and posting quickly.

Here's the new chapter!

Chapter 7

The three stood in awe at the scene before them. There was an entire convention walkway of booths to their right and to their left with people of all shapes and sizes. Natural light shone down from the glass ceilings and the air was crisp and cool, a much needed change from the outdoor heat. Hardison darted to the wall of brochures and walked back over scanning the page. Parker and Eliot continued to stare. Parker eyed the Batman Character fishing something out of his wallet and handing a bill to a scraggly man at the t-shirt stand.

"No!" Hardison breathed in awe. He was still staring at the brochure, eyes moving back and forth across the page intently reading the descriptions. Parker leaned over him on her tiptoes to get a look.

"What?"

"Stan Lee" was all Hardison responded.

Eliot continued to stay silent. "Stan Lee." Parker repeated looking somewhat lost.

"Stan Lee!" Hardison said louder grabbing Parker by the shoulders.

"Are you going to cry?" Eliot asked in disgust.

To Parker's surprise, Hardison didn't even hear him. Usually an insult from Eliot would unleash an insult from Hardison and the bickering would ensue, but not this time. This 'Stan Lee' character had a power that she did not; to nullify their arguments.

"Stan Lee is THE MAN and he's here, in this building!" Hardison announced loudly. He got a few cheers from a group of DragonBall Z characters passing by, but Parker was still perplexed. She was about to ask again, when Hardison interrupted.

"He created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk…I could go on forever!" Hardison inhaled deeply, making up for the air he'd missed while spouting out information.

"Yippee!" Eliot twirled his finger in the air sarcastically.

"Would you mind?" Hardison begged Parker.

"We have work to do Hardison. We aren't here to live out your wet dreams." Eliot remarked.

Hardison had blinders on, because he still continued to stare at Parker with puppy dog eyes. She could never say no to the puppy dog eyes.

She gave a sweet smile and he took off like a racehorse down the rows, looking at his watch, and shoving a few sailor scouts out of the way. Parker picked up a brochure from the floor and saw that Stan Lee was starting his interview momentarily in the main contention hall.

"So what now?" Eliot asked his shoulders drooping in dismay.

"I don't know." Parker sighed.

Now there were only two of them remaining. They'd lost another victim to the 'fun night' she had orchestrated.

"We could ask some people if they remember us?" Parker suggested.

Eliot shook his head. They moved closer to a booth and Eliot sat on the end of the table.

"Excuse me sir, you can't sit there" a nasally voice chastised. Eliot turned and gave the woman a look and she quickly made her way to the other end of the table to greet more visitors.

"I really don't want to talk to anyone, Parker."

Parker nodded. Both her and Eliot were similar in that they liked to work alone. When she was on a job, the only thing she had to interact with was a motion sensor and a vault. Eliot would start out with a group of people threatening and grunting, but by the end, he'd have them all just as silent.

"We could apprehend the camera system; watch some footage from the last 24 hours." Eliot suggested.

Parker shook her head. "That would be too much work and we need to stay under the radar."

"I think we shot that out of the window last night." Eliot mused. Parker made a face that Eliot couldn't quite place. Was it guilt?

Her face brightened a moment later. "You know, we could ask people, without _actually_ asking people."

"Is it weird that I know exactly what you mean?" Eliot questioned.

Parker shook her head and grinned. Parker and Eliot split ways for a few minutes. At the first booth, Parker picked up a thick plastic bag with some welcome pencils, brochures and leaflet's for restaurants in the area already inside. She walked along from booth to booth glancing at the items and leaning uncomfortably close to people in strange outfits. Eliot was on the other side, chest tight, sucking in his breath whenever he got too close to someone he couldn't figure out was a male anime character or a female anime character. Eventually, they regrouped at some padded stools lining a wall and sat down.

"We are not doing that again." Eliot huffed. Both laid their bags between the other. She pulled her legs in and sat cross legged as she grabbed the first camera out of her bag.

The camera sprung to life and she started flipping through pictures. Eliot followed suit.

"This phone was hard to get a hold of." Parker spoke up waving a small blue and silver camera at Eliot. "I couldn't figure out where his pocket was."

Eliot gruffed. "This day sucks." He discarded his first camera and pulled out another.

Parker looked over at him for a moment. He could feel her eyes on him and he didn't like it.

"What?" He asked.

"Why do you do that?" She asked.

"Do what?" He asked puzzled.

"It's like you don't know what I do for a living." She responded, looking off in the opposite direction, lips tight.

Eliot was tired. Here Parker went again, on one of her riddling rants, and unfortunately this time Hardison wasn't here to decipher it.

"Speak English Parker." He complained.

"Hardison goes through your computer stuff."

"So." He said not sure where she was going with this.

"I break into places, it's what I do." He had a sinking feeling he knew what this was about.

"I know that's what you do Parker."

She gave him a look, hoping that he understood.

"I know what you hide in your closet safe Eliot."

"And here it is." Eliot sighed, leaning back against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Why do you pretend?"

He ignored the comment. "So let me get this straight, "Nate can brainwash us, Sophie can grift us, Hardison can hack into our computers, you can break into our homes…am I the only one who hasn't turned on the team?"

Parker looked guiltily at him.

"So. When do I get to beat everyone up?" He asked simply. "Hardison's first."

Parker hunched over, unhappy with how the conversation was going.

"I'm not going to tell anyone."

Eliot calmed down a little and shook his head.

"It's not a big deal Parker. I own comics."

"Then why do you lock them in a safe?"

They continued to flip through pictures as they talked. She eyed over to him. The parrot's wings fluttered and the bird went back to its deep sleep.

"Because they are first edition." He explained looking at a picture.

"Damnit, I knew I should have taken them." Parker laughed. Eliot gave a chuckle.

"I think I found something." Eliot explained looking closer at the picture, clicking a few buttons to zoom in.

Parker scooted over to him and leaned in to the camera.

"No." She said, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Oh god, help me." Eliot looked up to the ceiling in anguish.

"That's you!" Parker cried out, trying not to laugh.

Eliot continued to stare at the picture. There he was, in the midst of a group of fans, spray painted green from head to toe.

"Well, I think green suits you." She said trying to be serious. "You make a great alien."

He gave her a shove, wishing he could kill himself now.

"I'm not an alien." He said. "I'm the Hulk." It was true, he had the ripped purple sweat pants to prove it.

Eliot flipped through the proceeding pictures and Parker sat greedily looking over his shoulder for more incriminating evidence. The pictures showed him dancing and jumping and laughing. Parker had never seen him have such a good time. She once thought the scowl on his face was permanent. Apparently all he needed was a little push in the right direction.

"I'm going to head to the restroom" Parker said, as she placed the bird on his shoulder. He continued to stare at the picture with an expression that could only be described as absolute misery.

The bathroom entrance was a big rectangular hole in the wall with two smaller rectangular tiled holes splitting off, one for men, the other for women. After making her way in she walked over to the sink. Finally, she had a chance to look at herself in the mirror. Her usually spunkiness seemed to be faded and her eyes drooped from exhaustion. She looked to her left and saw a girl with fairies wings, and an x-men character fixing up their make-up. She thought it strange that she herself felt out of place next to these two characters. As she exited, she bumped into a man walking out of the men's entrance.

That's when things got bad.

There, standing right in front of her, was a man dressed as a horse. Her mind froze and flashed back to the horse and clown going at it in the park on her birthday so many years ago. Her eyes went wide, and everything became a haze.

When the haze finally cleared, she was standing above a beaten horse that lay on the ground as Eliot held her back. Hardison was right behind them, obviously back from his convention interview. A few cops ran up to them.

"What happened?" The first of two cops asked.

"He tried to attack my girlfriend." Hardison lied, pushing his way through the miniature crowd. Parker nodded slowly, looking up at him.

"That's not true!" The horse man bellowed.

"Ahh, see there officer, that is hidden rage. I took a class on picking up the signs. You keep an eye out for this guy, he's going to cause you trouble."

"You people are crazy!" The man tried standing up.

"Did you just say you people?" Hardison feigned insult. "Now you are a racist?"

"No, you asshole!"

Hardison looked over at the cops. "Racist and Aggressive. Good catch guys. My girlfriend would have been lost without you." The two cops stood up a little taller, taking their jobs with a little more pride.

While Hardison was laying the story on thick, Eliot watched in horror as Parker began stealthily pulling a badge from the first cops holster. He tried to give her the 'stop right this second!' sign, but would only add more attention to an increasingly suspicious situation. He closed his eyes when he saw her start for the handcuffs. She moved both into her hoodie pockets with glee in her eyes.

"It's time for us to go. I don't think it's safe around shady characters like these." Eliot jumped in, stopping Parker as she reached for the gun. He guided her to their bags as Hardison called out to the horse man behind them who was now being escorted with security.

"Let's go." Eliot said sternly.

"Hey now, I haven't gotten my SWAG yet." Hardison complained, looking around to see the stuff that they were giving away at the booths.

"Now is not the time Hardison." Eliot gruffed.

Parker smiled at her new stolen items, but was still shaking a little from the horse encounter.

As they exited the building as nonchalantly as possible, they all took a calm breath.

"I think it's time for lunch." Hardison said.

"Food" Parker sighed, as she felt her stomach grumble.

"That is something that I can agree with." Eliot mused as he led them to the taxis and took a drive to the closest fast food restaurant.

"So did I miss anything interesting while I was gone?" Hardison asked.

Parker gave a sidelong grin at Eliot, but kept her mouth shut.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I can't wait until the season 4 premiere of Leverage this coming Sunday (June 26th!). The behind the scenes videos on the TNT website are great and I CAN'T WAIT!

Thanks again for those reviews! I love some of the ideas and in about two chapters things are going to start getting dangerous for the trio and for Nate.

Chapter 8

They decided it best to pass by the first few fast food places, glancing in the windows and noticing hordes of Comic Con characters filling the fast food lines as well as the drive through. After about twenty minutes of driving they came upon a rather remote hamburger joint and went inside.

A plump lady twirling her hair between her fingers and chewing bubble gum stared back at them expectantly.

"So" she said impatiently, "whadda ya want?" She glanced down at her watch.

"I'll have…the chicken sandwich with everything on it, a coke and fries." Hardison answered while simultaneously looking up at the menu posted above them.

"Chicken sandwich, everything on it, and fries" She started speaking over the microphone into the back. "Do you want a large fry?" She asked. Hardison nodded.

"That'll be-" the waitress began, but was interrupted by Hardison shaking his head.

He gestured behind him. Eliot rolled his eyes, knowing that he was responsible for financing this meal. Parker ordered rather quickly, and being specific when ordering her extra large chocolate milkshake being sure the cashier wouldn't make a mistake. Eliot pulled up the rear by ordering and paying for their food.

After five more minutes of waiting the trio made it to a booth in the back close to the restrooms. They wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible with full bags of cameras and phones, though, how much can you blend in with a parrot?

The first portion was spent in silence, all three devouring their food. Parker finished her hamburger first, but spent most of the time inhaling her milkshake, stopping every once in a while due to brain freeze.

"That interview was amazing. The man is a genius," Hardison began, referring to the Stan Lee presentation.

"I'm sure." Eliot mumbled as he reached into the bag and pulled out a random cell phone. "I'm going to call Sophie."

Eliot stood up and walked to the other end of the dining area, also devoid of customers.

Hardison glanced across the table to Parker. She was observing a picture of a 'death by chocolate' brownie sundae poster on the wall. It was the first real time since this morning that they had really been alone and he appreciated the momentary absence of the group's hitter. He appreciated it even more knowing that Eliot was about to take the brunt of Sophie's anger.

Parker popped the top off of her super sized cup and tapped it, trying to get the last ice cream chunks to slide down. Hardison couldn't help but stare at her.

"You've got some…here." Hardison hastily picked up a napkin and wiped some chocolate foam residue off of Parker's top lip. It was an unconscious reaction and happened before he realized. She was frozen, surprised, and not sure how to act. A blush began to creep up the sides of her check, but she immediately reached down for a camera to busy herself.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the convention." Parker mentioned nonchalantly, her attention focused on the camera as she flipped through pictures.

"Yeah, it was amazing, first he began talking about how he envisioned the X-Men and went into detail about the underlying-" He paused, slightly embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry Parker, I know this isn't that interesting."

"No!" Parker looked up. "I enjoy the things that you say." She gave a nervous chuckle and went back to picture flipping.

Parker was finding it more and more difficult to keep up a conversation with Hardison recently. This pinching feeling in the pit of her stomach kept nagging at her, making her second guess herself, making her feel unsure of what to say. It all started when that girl, no, that terrorist, ran into Hardison at a coffee shop a few months ago. Yes, she was in trouble, and yes, they ended up avenging her sister's death, but Parker couldn't help but inwardly seethe at her overtly flirtatious gestures toward Hardison. Sophie mentioned jealousy, but Parker refused to consider that option.

Hardison decided to change the subject due to the extended awkward silence. "So, what were you and Eliot up to while I was gone?"

"This is about it." Parker waved the camera.

"Did you find anything?"

This caught Parker's attention and she gave one of her famous evil grins. Hardison looked at her eager for information.

"We found a few pictures of Eliot…" Parker looked in the bag for the camera. Hardison's face lit up like it was Christmas.

"So he did end up going as…" Hardison started.

"The HULK!" They both finished, laughing. Parker pulled her hand out of the bag.

"I can't find the camera." She frowned and they both glanced over at Eliot. He gave a face and waved the missing camera at them mouthing 'I'm not stupid.'

They turned back to each other. "We'll find another one, and I'm going to make it my permanent desktop picture." Hardison remarked as Parker handed him a red digital camera.

Eliot had walked over to the other end of the dining area knowing that when he told Sophie that they had temporarily misplaced their mastermind she would go ballistic. He reached in his wallet, quite proud that he didn't need technology to get a hold of Sophie's contact information. He had securely placed a card with each of their cell phone numbers in his wallet after he realized he was officially staying with the team. As he opened his calfskin wallet something fell to the floor. He knelt down and looked at it. The front of the business card was labeled, 'The Volcano Club.' The background was heavy gloss with an erupting volcano. He flipped it over and spotted handwriting. It said 'Jeanine' followed by a phone number. He stuffed it back into his wallet and pulled out the card that he needed.

Dialing Sophie's number was like calling your mother to bail you out of jail. It was the call every delinquent kid avoided until absolutely necessary. He flipped the phone to his other ear as it rang, rang again, and rang again. He'd almost given up hope when a voice on the other end answered.

"Hello?" The voice was Sophie's all right, and he knew the underlying tone of concern.

"Hey Soph, it's me." He heard a verbal sigh on the other end.

"Thank god. I thought something had happened. I was at the airport and your flight landed right on time, but…" She trailed off, hoping for Eliot to fill in the blanks.

"Yeah. We didn't make it onto the plane." He quickly rushed on temporarily trying to avoid the subject. "How is Ms. Ellerby. Everything still running smoothly out there?"

"No. You four are not here, so no, everything is not running smoothly. Why weren't you on the plane?"

"We had a late night." He tried to divert the question. "Did you get the VexCorp board of directors to agree to the proposal."

"Eliot, I'm a grifter. I grift. What do you think? And don't shirk my question. How late of a night was it?" She asked sharply.

Eliot glanced over at Hardison and Parker unconsciously hoping that they could help him avoid the looming whiplash from Sophie, but instead heard them say something about the Hulk and glance over at him. He pulled the camera from Comic Con out of his back pocket and waved it at them condescendingly mouthing 'I'm not stupid' and they turned back around.

"Eliot!"

"Yeah. I'm here."

He heard here give a frustrated sigh. "Put Nate on the phone." She said in her, 'I'm obviously not going to get anything out of you' tone.

This made Eliot stop, momentary panic visible in his eyes.

"Nate?" Eliot asked.

"Yes, Nate. You know, the idiot who dragged you all out there in the middle of a very important con."

"Yeah…" Eliot opened his mouth to start the full explanation, and then stopped himself. He paused for a moment. "He's in the bathroom."

"What?" Sophie asked.

"Umm, he's in the bathroom, I think something didn't sit well with him last night. He's been in there for the past hour." Eliot lied. He winced, not believing that he just lied to a professional liar.

There was a pause. He spent the dreaded moment wondering what she was thinking. Did it work? Did she see right through his half-baked lie?

"Eliot?" Sophie interrupted the silence with a calm but suspicious voice.

"Yes." Was all he could manage.

"You tell Nate to give me a call when he gets out of the bathroom."

"Sure." Eliot sighed, but quickly caught it in his throat.

"There is another flight this evening." Her power of suggestion was overwhelming. He understood why so many presidents and dignitaries bent their power to her will. Her voice has a magnetizing quality. "Be sure to make it, yeah?"

Eliot nodded as if brainwashed. He looked across the room and watched as Hardison got up from the booth and made his way to the bathroom.

"Okay then, in the meantime, I will try and salvage what is left of this five person con, by _myself_." He knew she probably sat up a little higher in her seat with that.

"Great, Sophie. You are a lifesaver. I'll call you later." When he reached to press the 'end call' button, he heard her shout something about having Nate call instead.

Taking a deep breath he walked over to the table and took Hardison's seat.

"So, how did she take it?" Parker asked.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"She was _fine_?" Parker asked in disbelief.

Eliot twiddled with his fingers. Parker's eyes widened.

"You didn't tell her, did you?"

Eliot shrugged and looked away, avoiding her intense gaze.

"You know she didn't believe you, right?" Parker grinned.

"What does it matter? Once we find Nate, she won't care anyway." Eliot shifted.

"You are in so much trouble." Parker mused.

"You are in so much trouble!" The parrot chirped after her. Eliot was caught by surprise. The bird hadn't spoken in so long, he was half certain that they had killed it in the morning's chaos.

Eliot picked up another camera phone and started flipping through pictures. They day continued to drag on and he felt the urge to fast forward in time and get the day over with. As he continued to flip through pictures he thought back to the previous nights events. It was never in his nature to lose control so easily. When he lost control, people got hurt. He shifted in his seat, thankful that he hadn't done anything irreversible thus far. He remained curious though how it all could have happened so quickly and how none of them could remember anything.

"Parker." He quickly stopped and hopped into the seat next to her so they could both look.

There in the picture was Nate, Hardison, Parker and Eliot all posing in their respective outfits.

"Wow." Was all Parker could say.

"You definitely had all the nerds salivating at the mouth with that outfit, Parker."

Unexpectedly an earsplitting shriek erupted from the bathroom.

Parker and Eliot's eyes met. "Hardison" they said simultaneously and raced to the bathroom.

Parker's heart pounded. She managed to zoom around Eliot and race into the Men's bathroom, Eliot stampeding behind.

They both opened the door with a crash, and froze.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note:

Thank you so much for the reviews and feedback! In appreciation, I decided to go ahead and post this chapter early. I know cliffhangers are horrible, but I looove writing them!

Chapter 9:

Neither Parker nor Eliot knew what to say. They just stood there for what seemed like ages.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Eliot asked slowly, and then looked to the floor awkwardly.

Of all the things Eliot had to put up with today, this was the most ridiculous.

"Is everything…okay?" Parker questioned, still frozen, yet unable to remove her gaze.

Hardison didn't respond. He stood with his back facing the full length mirror. His head arched around to get a better view of his backside through the reflection in the mirror.

"Is that…?" Parker started walking closer to him.

"It's a tattoo." Hardison finished.

"-on your ass Hardison." Eliot inserted turning to face the wall.

Parker walked up and bent over squinting at Hardison's left butt cheek.

"P-P-Parker…what…" Hardison stuttered as he quickly pulled up the back portion of his pants before she could get a good enough look. He leaned his arm against the wall, closing his eyes in embarrassment.

"What?" Parker asked, frustrated that she couldn't get a better look.

"Can you guys please leave." Hardison complained.

"Absolutely." Eliot chimed in, about to leave the room as quickly as possible. He refused to be seen in a bathroom staring at a man's ass.

"No, it could be a clue." Parker exclaimed.

Hardison glanced over at her with a sly smile. "I think you just want to get another look at my ass."

Parker's eyes grew, and she opened her mouth to say something but quickly clamped it shut again.

"Believe me Hardison, no one wants to see that." Eliot emphasized crossing his arms. "But, Parker's right."

"No." Hardison reaffirmed, putting a hand up as Parker edged closer. "I got a good enough look at it."

"So." Eliot asked waiting for more information.

"So…it's a tattoo." Hardison sidestepped rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, we know that, but what is an image of?" Parker pushed.

Hardison pushed his way out of the bathroom door and back over to the table with the parrot and the bags of stolen cameras. Parker followed close behind, taking a nice long look at his rear-end as Eliot shook his head in dismay.

"Hardison!" Parker whined. "What was it?"

He ignored her, grabbing an iphone from the bag and began pressing buttons. Parker remained patient, lips pursed while Eliot handed a cracker to the parrot.

"There are 12 tattoo parlors within city limits." Hardison passed Parker the iphone and she surveyed the map.

"So where do we start?" She asked.

"We start here." Eliot reached into his pocket and pulled out a small business card tossing it to Parker.

"The Volcano Club." Parker read.

"I found it in my wallet when I was talking to Sophie." Eliot said pulling it from her hand and flipping it over to the back.

"Jeanine?" Hardison asked and looked over at Eliot questioningly. Eliot shrugged.

"Ugh, what's the point?" Parker huffed dropping her forehead to the table with a thud. "We don't even know if we are on the right track."

"It will be okay, Parker." Hardison encouraged, though his tone seemed less than enthusiastic.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Eliot asked.

"This is all my fault." Parker mumbled to herself.

Eliot turned to here giving an odd look. "What do you mean 'your fault'?"

Parker looked up surprised. "No. I mean. I mean that I'm the one that suggested we have fun."

Hardison smiled at her. "It's fine Parker, it was a great night. I mean, it had to have been if we don't remember, right?"

Parker leaned across the table closer to him looking into his eyes with a serious expression, "I don't know. Did you always want to get a tattoo on your ass?"

Hardison leaned back with a self satisfied grin and opened his mouth to say something then thought better of it and turned to Eliot.

"Hey, don't look at me. My next job will be finding a way to get that image burned out of my memory." Eliot added sarcastically.

There was a collective silence. Parker stared at 'The Volcano Club' card and read over it a few times.

"So I guess we call Emil then, and have him take us to the 'Club'?" Eliot questioned interrupting the silence.

"You know, I could just steal a car." Parker glanced out the window to get a good look at the automotive options.

"Parker, we don't need to add car theft to our list of problems today." Eliot chastised.

"I know, but it would save so much time." Parker muttered.

"We're the good guys now, besides, this business card doesn't have an address. I'm sure a taxi driver would know where to find it." Eliot responded as he stood up and walked away to call Emil.

"I think it's time we get rid of these cameras." Parker perked resolutely as she pulled the phone from Hardison's hand then plopped it into the bag.

"Hey! I could use that." Hardison called out, but the bags were in the trash before he could do anything about it.

"You know that all those phones have tracking devices that will lead straight to us."

"I create CIA level identities for the team on a regular basis, I hacked a bomb on a plane, in flight, might I add, and you don't think I can disengage a simple GPS navigator application?" Hardison said emphatically throwing his hands in the air.

Parker shrugged. "Too late."

"Besides, I didn't get to see anyone's costumes." Hardison groaned.

Parker gave a sidelong glance and sauntered back over to him and leaned in slightly. "I may have sent myself a copy of the four of us."

"You better dig me out a camera from the trashcan." Hardison nudged Parker to the trash can but she danced her way out of his grasp.

"Let's go. Apparently he was right down the road." Eliot exclaimed with a frown and walked out the door, the other two close behind.

"I'll show you the picture when you tell me what kind of tattoo you got." Parker answered looking behind Eliot to Hardison.

"Just give me 60 seconds with a cell phone and I'll have that picture anyway." Hardison retorted.

Parker shrugged. "I guess you'll have to find yourself a phone then won't you?"

Emil and the taxi pulled up right outside.

"Thank God!" Eliot groaned as he b-lined for the taxi. "I've never been so happy to see you." Eliot sighed as he climbed into the backseat, Parker and Hardison still bickering.

"Where to this time?" Emil asked jovially.

"Have you ever heard of 'The Volcano Club'?" Eliot asked the driver handing him the business card. Emil looked at the business card thoughtfully then turned to look at Eliot.

"Yep." He said simply, and they went on their way. Eliot glanced at Emil for a moment then shrugged off the suspicious feeling he was getting pulling his attention back to the trouble twins next to him.

"Shut-up!" He hollered. They looked at him, and then continued with their bickering. Eliot turned to face the window and began banging his head.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: 

Okay, so it's time for the story to take a turn. You've seen the fun, but we all know that fun must eventually come to an end. It's time to deal with the consequences of the night before.

blackspots: If I hadn't already written a few chapters ahead I would loved to write about Eliot and Hardison with matching tattoos. I was so tempted to go back and change it. Awesome idea!

Don't forget: Reviews = Chapters!

Chapter 10:

Eliot stared out of the window and watched the skyscrapers turn into large manufacturing buildings with a grungy and derelict quality. It surprised him that they would be headed to such an unkempt part of town. The other two remained pleasantly unaware, but he noticed nervous glances from the driver every so often. It put Eliot on edge.

Eliot thought back to the vacation he kept dreaming about. He always promised himself that after the next con he would take a few weeks off and head somewhere tropical for some much needed R &R, but that has yet to happen. He imagined a woman in a string bikini walking up to him on the beach asking him to rub sun block on her shoulders. His fantasy and smile faded as his two partners' nagging voices invaded his thoughts.

"It's not my fault that I am better at Grand Theft Auto. I did steal cars you know. It's natural." Parker answered exasperated.

"Please. I keep logs on all of my game stats. I know you sneak in and practice." Hardison gave her a punishing glare.

Parker raised an eyebrow and quickly looked out the window. She hadn't thought of that.

"Well" she responded, "you can't prove it was me." She crossed her arms.

"Just because you never show up on any of my surveillance cameras doesn't mean you weren't there. If anything, the fact that you avoided them is further evidence."

"Whatever." Parker countered.

"What's weird though is that you didn't even get caught by the new one I installed. I thought I had a good spot for it this time." Hardison frowned.

Parker gave a smug look and shrugged.

"We're almost here." Emil responded breaking up the conversation.

"And where exactly is here?" Hardison questioned, realizing now that they were transported into a rougher side of town.

"Davie Street." He answered.

"What exactly is the Volcano Club?" Eliot asked cautiously. He mentally kicked himself for not bothering to ask before. Even though the drain of this day took him off of his A-Game he knew something was not right.

Eliot and Emil locked eyes through the rearview mirror.

"Look, there's a tattoo parlor down the street." Parker pointed out, pointing her finger a few doors down from where they were parked.

The sidewalks were grimy and many of the buildings looked abandoned. Eliot was the first to climb out. Hardison made a face, preferring his destroyed hotel room to this. Parker didn't seem nearly as concerned, pulling herself out of the backseat of the cab after Eliot. She was probably used to a lot worse, climbing through ventilation shafts all day.

"I'll wait here for you three when you are ready to leave, yeah?" He gave a smile and Eliot nodded weary of Emil's kindness.

"Let's get this over with. Hardison, go over and find out what you can at the tattoo parlor. Parker and I will ask around in here." He gestured from the flickering neon "Total Tattoo" sign a few doors down to the large door in front of them.

"Hell no! I'm not going over there by myself."

"Hardison, quit overreacting." Eliot's temple began to throb, his migraine was coming back.

"I'll go with you." Parker offered. She made a step to follow him but he shook his head.

"Uh, no, that's okay." Hardison sidestepped.

Parker looked put out, and retreated.

Hardison hurried, "You know, strength in numbers." He knew his excuse was lame.

Eliot rolled his eyes and opened the door. Parker gave Hardison another hard look and then followed after Eliot. Hardison shook his head and followed in behind.

It wasn't like any club they had been to before, this one led them down a long dimly lit hallway. The musky dingy scent had Parker pulling the collar of her shirt up over her nose as a makeshift air filter not that it did much good. At the end, there was a large painting, not completely dissimilar from the one that Hardison painted for their 'Leverage Consulting' Office back in Boston. The painting was above a long set of stairs descending underground.

Eliot didn't make any attempt to mask his footsteps, stomping down the abandoned staircase. Hardison couldn't help but glance behind him every so often.

"Have you seen any scary movies lately?"

Parker nodded. Eliot ignored the question.

"Well this is the part where the ghosts and vampires come out to eat us." Hardison's voice hitched.

The floor creaked causing both Hardison and Parker to jump.

"Damnit Hardison, there are no such things as ghosts or vampires."

"That's what the first one to die always says." Hardison responded taking another shifty look behind him.

"Maybe they are the ones that killed Nate." Parker inserted.

"I think you should be more worried about me killing the two of you." Eliot barked as he squinted down the stairs. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

It didn't take long before the bottom of the stairs ended and a thick door stood in its place immediately to their left. Eliot rapped on it before Hardison had the chance to mention zombies.

The door opened and a large man looked back at them suspiciously. His arms bulged out of his tight shirt and his bald head gleamed against the lights in the enormous room behind him.

"Get in." The burly man said without hesitation. They followed in observing their surroundings.

It was enormous and looked like the ground floor of the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Everywhere Parker looked she saw Poker Tables, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, and even a few slot machines against the far walls. Anything you could think of, it was here, housed in this underground casino.

"This isn't a club." Parker muttered to Hardison.

He nodded back to her while continuing to survey the room, "It's an illegal underground gambling ring."

The burly man that met them at the door guided them to the bar and told them to wait a moment.

"Something isn't right." Eliot whispered to the other two as he took a seat next to Parker. Parker swiveled around on the barstool.

"Yeah, they wouldn't just let us walk in here like that, right?" Parker asked glancing at the security points, catching a few surveillance cameras professionally concealed around the large expanse. Hardison unconsciously took a step closer to Parker and Eliot.

The other two nodded looking over their shoulder. "Maybe they remember us." Hardison offered and was quickly interrupted.

"Princess Leia!" A voice called out.

Hardison blanched and the three of them looked over to where the voice came from. Out of a back room came a dark haired man with a small apron around his waist. They assumed he was the bartender. He walked unabashed directly toward them, well, toward Parker.

"Excuse me?" Hardison choked.

The man ignored him and walked straight up to Parker. Her face went white. She was surprised at how handsome he was, and even more surprised that he spotted her out of a crowd. Normally, it was her job to blend in, to go unnoticed. Sophie was the one that stood out.

As he arrived in front of her then grabbed her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it while not breaking eye contact. Parker gave a nervous grin.

Hardison's face was contorted in an unrecognizable expression, somewhere between disgust and anger.

"What did you call her?" Eliot asked.

"Princess Leia. That's what she came in as, and wow, did you look amazing." He said, moving his conversation from one with Eliot to one with Parker. "Just so fit." He added making a clicking noise and taking a picture of her with an imaginary camera.

Parker didn't say anything, but looked away slightly embarrassed. The way she responded welcomingly to his overt advances managed to take Hardison to the next level of rage. She actually enjoyed the attention! He clutched his fists tighter.

"So you remember us, I take it?" Eliot asked ignoring Hardison's wild eyes shooting daggers at the man.

"Oh, absolutely. You were the life of the party. Especially you." He looked back over at Parker and winked. Eliot looked annoyed. "I really enjoyed our time in the coat closet." Parker straightened up in her seat, eyes growing wider in surprise.

'Craack!'

Eliot, Parker and the bartender turned their attention to Hardison. He stood there with a broken beer bottle in his hand. Eliot was sure Hardison would explode at any second.

"Where did you get that?" Eliot asked, somewhat amused now noticing the empty beer bottles sitting at the bar.

Hardison gave him a look then turned his attention back to Parker and her new 'boytoy.'

"I think I'll go talk to the tattoo artist down the road." He said through clenched teeth.

"Oh and you probably want to give him back his parrot." The bartender added.

"Oh! The parrot is his? We were wondering where he came from, it's so beautiful, see we don't remember what happened and-" Parker piped in, surprising herself at how open she was being. All Hardison could do was gawk at her new conversational skills.

"Yes, but let me promise you that the bird can't even compare to your radiant beauty." The bartender reached for her hand again.

Hardison jerked to the side with an abrupt spasm, unable to contain his fury. All this time, all of his patience and it was for nothing. Was she trying to drive him crazy?

"That's it." Hardison grabbed the parrot (who made an uncomfortable squawk) and stormed out disappearing as quickly as he could.

Parker watched him leave somewhat put out, but turned back to the barman. Eliot rolled his eyes.

"Well, we are looking for a friend of ours; we think he was here with us." Eliot asked, hoping that at least this lead would get them somewhere.

"Ahh, you mean your accomplice from last night." Parker and Eliot nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, he was very skilled at the poker tables. We thought for a while he might be counting cards."

Parker and Eliot glanced at each other, not putting it past Nate to actually be counting cards.

"Let me show you where he sat most of the evening."

He guided Parker gracefully to the Poker table, but Eliot kept a watchful eye on his surroundings.

Out of the shadows he began to notice figures appearing. More and more were revealing themselves from around doorways and dark corners of the room almost like ghosts. He moved up closer to Parker reaching for her arm. She was tense and even without seeing her face knew that she could sense whatever was going on.

"I'm sorry Princess." The bartender whispered in her ear as he began to step back. Parker and Eliot turned back to back covering one another as they quickly became surrounded by brooding men with metal pipes and chains.

"These are mob men." Eliot hissed into Parker's ear. She nodded recounting the defensive moves that Eliot had taught her. "Wherever there are goons, there is a ringleader." Eliot continued, but was interrupted.

"Vell, vell, vell." A woman in tight black leather and very high heels made her way through the circle of thugs. Her accent was definitely Eastern European. Parker turned to get a good look at the woman while simultaneously keeping count of the men and their movements. Parker eyed the whip that the woman twirled in her finger. Eliot inwardly approving of her weapon choice having difficulty remembering back to the last time he'd fought against someone with a whip.

"What do you want?" Eliot threatened. His body was hard and he angled his stance to prepare for battle.

"Oh, you do not remember me?" She bit her bottom lip and batted her long black eye lashes. He continued to glare at her, noticing a few of the men move in a little closer.

"Jeanine." He answered.

Eliot flicked the 'Volcano Club' business card at her. It landed softly on the ground in front of her. She made a pouting face, shook her head no, and stepped right over the card and up to him brushing the whips hilt across his cheek. He kept himself steady as she continued on, walking over to Parker.

"Ah, the girl with all the attention." The woman spat out with a seething look. This woman's temper seemed to flare. Parker remained firm and kept eye contact.

"Who are you?" Parker demanded. The woman smiled and looked over at a few of the thugs, who began to chuckle.

"My name is Victoria, and you my dear are in serious trouble." Parker looked over at a few of the mob men who nodded and licked their lips in anticipation.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Hardison paced outside, livid. After storming up the stairs, tripping once or twice, he couldn't help but fume. How could she? Ever since they started he was always there for her, supporting her, he watered her damned plant for goodness sake! His mind uncontrollably envisioned Parker and this handsome barman fumbling inside the coat closet together.

The bird flapped a few times getting nervous. Emil who was leaning up against his car smoking a cigarette looked over at him with concern but chose to say nothing. Hardison was grateful.

He knew inwardly that his advances towards her were just as frequent as her advances toward him, but at least he was flaunting himself at other women. That's what happens to the good guy that waits, they end up last. Hardison scowled at this, jealousy flaring up towards the team's hitter and the undeniable way women flocked toward him. Hardison loved what he did for the team, but no woman ever came up to a geek and told him how sexy he was after breaking into the United States CIA mainframe from his laptop.

Finally, after another minute of berating himself, Hardison stormed over to the tattoo parlor and pulled the door open. The tiny bell inside the door jingled.

A man sat in a metal chair with his boots propped up glanced up at him from his magazine. He looked to be in his 60's with graying hair in a ponytail in the back.

"How can I help you?" The man asked without looking up. Once the man's eyes finally lifted to give Hardison the once over he spotted the bird, then quickly jumped up giving a wide smile displaying golden teeth.

"Mona!" The man called out delighted.

"Mona! Mona! Mona!" The bird responded flapping itself over to it's owner, who proceeded to set it on a makeshift pedestal. The man looked back at Hardison appraisingly.

"I know you." The man said as if a fog had been lifted. "Dr. Who, isn't it?"

Hardison looked at him with a confused expression, and then understood.

"I guess I was Dr. Who, then." Hardison answered shaking the man's hand.

"Well, when you came in here, all you could complain about was how you couldn't be Han Solo because all the costumes were sold out."

Hardison shook his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I was a little…out of my element last night." He resigned looking around.

"Don't I know it." The man laughed. "You paid me three grand to put a tattoo on your ass."

"Yeah" Hardison answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "About that."

"No need to explain." The man answered putting up his hand. "All of us have made commitments to our ladies. Though, usually you have the lady first." He shrugged. "To each his own."

Hardison was completely distraught. The image of Parker in the coat closet swam murkily back into view revving up his anger yet again.

The man motioned for him to take a seat in the tattoo chair. "How's it doing by the way? Sore this morning I bet."

Hardison nodded taking a seat. "It'll stay pink for a day or two, but after that you should be fine."

"How long before I can get it removed?" Hardison asked.

The man's face flashed an insulted look, but it quickly disappeared.

"I would wait a few weeks, but the removal process usually takes about a month to eight weeks."

Hardison groaned.

"Why do you want to get rid of it? You were telling me just last night that your love for her is just as permanent as the tattoo." He made a mock dreamy face.

"Did I really say that?" He moaned.

The man laughed and nodded. "Don't worry, I've heard worse."

Hardison felt shut down. He had permanently disfigured his skin for this woman and she is just twirling him around on her finger. He knew she liked to work alone, but thought that the conversations they'd had, the connections might have meant more. It stung him to realize that he was wrong.

_Back at the Volcano Club:_

"Who are you?" Parker demanded. The woman smiled and looked over at a few of the goons, who began to chuckle.

"My name is Victoria, and you my dear are in serious trouble." Parker looked over at a few of the mob men who nodded and licked their lips in anticipation.

She could feel Eliot's grip tighten on her arm but she didn't move.

"Do I at least get to know what I did before Eliot kills you?" Parker asked politely, with threatening undertones.

Victoria looked at her in surprise then gave a wide smile lips lusciously red, displaying her pearly white teeth. With her high heels, the woman cowered over Parker. "All in good time, my dear. I can't let my cousins here go without any fun now can I? Besides, I hoped you wouldn't give in that easily."

"Don't worry." Eliot hissed to Victoria. Victoria sent him a lusty look and she turned and yelled, "NOW!"

The men immediately closed in on them. Eliot took the initiative walking straight up to the first man punching him square in the nose. The man pulled back blood spurting everywhere as a firm hand grabbed Eliot from behind. He sent his elbow jutting backwards into the man's gut and caught the heavy crowbar before it could slam down on him. He gave a quick look over at Parker.

He was surprised to see her holding her own. He gave himself a mental pat on the back as he watched her perform a roundhouse kick knocking one of the men against a Blackjack table causing chips to fly everywhere.

"Eliot, behind you!" Parker yelped as she ducked, a chain narrowly missing her.

Eliot quickly spun around bending over, thrusting the man above him with his back, causing the man to fly through the air and onto some stools nearby. The crash was loud, but he didn't have time to watch.

"Parker, get Hardison." Eliot called out to her. She had just leaped over a table as one of the goons slammed a pipe onto the table.

"I can stay." Parker called back, slightly out of breath. She leaped onto another table and a slimy goon jumped on after her. She caught her balance and looked him dead in the eye.

"Are you ready to have some fun?" The man's voice oozed and made her nauseous.

"You're a little late. That was last night." She taunted as she grabbed the chandelier above her and immediately slammed it into him. The man flew back onto the floor and groaned as he fell unconscious.

"GO!" Eliot yelled again slamming a fist into another goon. "Stay down!" He said to his victim and slammed his foot into the man's face breaking his nose with a crack. Another one down.

Parker relented watching as more and more thugs remained on the floor. She darted for the door, pulled it open and disappeared from Eliot's view. He turned around before he noticed the leather vixen follow after her.

Eliot grabbed a broken bottle from the bar and held it out as he watched the three remaining men move in on him.

The goons seemed furious, probably incensed that Eliot and Parker were able to take them down so easily. Eliot felt sad for them; they had no idea who they were up against. He decided to show them.

He took down the two smaller men on the left and right rather easily. He smiled at how simple their attacks were. The large man in the center on the other hand, caused him more trouble. He recognized the man from door, his bald head glistened as a drop of sweat slid down the side. His dark face was grinning with evil satisfaction as he stood a solid foot taller than Eliot.

Eliot attempted a punch, but the man's large hand caught his mid thrust twisting it backwards and flipping him over the Roulette table. Eliot winced at the pain in his arm, but quickly made his way to his feet. The giant grabbed him by the neck and dragged him up. Eliot felt his throat clench in pain and immediately boxed the giant's ears, causing the man to release him.

Eliot took a moment to catch his breath as he rolled over the table to distance himself from the now stampeding man. The giant man looked livid and stormed his way to Eliot. He tackled him throwing themselves over another table. Eliot could feel the chips under his back and heard them clink on the floor as they both fell.

Eliot finally managed to twist his way behind the giant holding a firm grip around the man's neck cutting off his air supply. The giant exploded and began slamming Eliot up against walls, against tables, anything to get him off. Unfortunately, the man didn't know Eliot, if he had, he would have known the attempts were futile. One last shove at the wall, causing Eliot to let out a painful groan, and the man dropped to his knees then fell to the floor. Eliot was dripping and took a few heaving breaths to steady himself. The last few blows made the world to spin out and cause everything to sit on end.

With a triumphant look he glanced around, smiling. Yet again, Eliot reigned victorious.

As he walked closer to the bar his ears perked. He identified someone stepping on fallen poker chips. He quickly turned around prepared to incapacitate the last thug who was dumb enough to want more.

When he turned, there not twenty feet away stood the bartender with a rifle aimed directly at him. He heard the shot before he could react. The stinging pain caught him off guard and he dropped to his knees hitting the floor as his body went numb, and then everything was black.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note:

Remember, I did warn everyone, the danger is finally here (as you probably noticed in the last chapter), and it's not over yet.

Thanks again for the reviews! You guys are the best! It really helps me to write and post quickly.

I have to say, even though I love Parker/Hardison, I think writing Eliot is one of my favorite things. He is a badass and is like the older brother always having to deal with the crap.

Anyway, here is the new chapter, I hope you like it!

Chapter 12:

Parker leapt up the stairs as fast as she could.

About half way up she let out a painful yelp as a leather rope managed to lace it's way around her leg dragging her back down the stairs. She knew immediately that Victoria was behind her.

Parker fumbled to grab onto the handrail but Victoria's whip was too fast slamming her against each stair as she was pulled down. The pain was violent and it hadn't helped that one of Victoria's goons had hit her hard in the stomach with a pipe just minutes ago.

When Parker slowed she managed to turn around and see Victoria standing tall with one leg up on a stair and the other standing steadily on the floor. She looked like a vampire, dangerously glistening. Victoria's face was vicious and Parker could tell she had it out for her.

"Who uses a whip anyway?" Parker quipped trying to steady her breathing.

Victoria's eyes turned black with fury as she flung her whip around Parker's throat. Parker had to admit that this woman knew how to use that whip no matter how impractical Parker thought it was.

Parker could feel her airway closing, the pain like a fire in her throat. With all of her strength and without hesitation, she grabbed a hold of the whip with both hands and dragged it forward. Victoria couldn't keep her balance with the heels and she flew forward straight into Parker's foot. The black converse shoe slammed into Victoria's nose with a force Parker didn't realize she had. The woman flung back with a pained yelp and her back slammed up against the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Parker immediately pulled the whip from around her neck and doubled over into a fit of coughs.

Without looking back she climbed as quickly as her aching body would take her up the stairs and down the long hall. She stumbled out of the doorway and ran down the street to the tattoo parlor.

"Hardison" she coughed. This time she literally did fall through the door.

Both Hardison and the tattoo shop owner jumped to their feet.

"Parker, you're bleeding." Hardison was at her side in an instant. His eyes darkened. "What happened?" His momentary anger towards her vanished as he evaluated the new marks on her face and neck.

"It's a set-up." Parker rasped and Hardison guided her to his seat. "We need to go help Eliot."

"Just sit down." The tattoo shop owner encouraged walking over to the door and glancing outside.

Parker refused, trying to pull herself back up. Hardison kept her down without much effort.

"I'll go." Hardison responded. Granted, he wasn't sure how much more help he would be, hating at the moment that his gift was in technology instead of violence. Whoever did this was going to pay, one way or the other.

"No." They heard a voice growl. Both Hardison and Parker whipped around. With all of Hardison's attention on Parker, the shop owner had moved over to the cash register against the wall. He now pointed a pistol directly at Parker and his face was no longer friendly, but contorted in a hardened scowl.

Hardison slowly walked in front of Parker, the gun now aimed at his chest instead.

"You two aren't going anywhere." The shop owner growled. Hardison was flabbergasted. Just moments ago they had been enjoying themselves, relaxing, and all along this man was watching him, preparing to make his move. Hardison was disgusted, but knew that at any moment this man could kill Parker and himself.

"You don't have to do this. Just put the gun down." Hardison spoke, calmly.

"NO TALKING!" He barked. "Go sit down." He flicked his gun toward the metal chair. "GO." He shoved the gun into Hardison's chest.

Parker had since stood up but neither paid her any attention. Her agility and ability to disappear was truly a gift. Hardison walked his way over to the chair reluctantly.

A flare passed through Parker's eyes as she reached in her hoodie pocket feeling around for it's contents.

Without warning she grabbed for the man's wrist. She forcefully twisted it backwards causing the man to make an angry howl. She pulled it back even further causing the man to unintentionally drop the gun. Without missing a beat she dragged his arm handcuffing both his wrists to the metal piping behind the chair. Hardison jumped in to help and shoved him down punching across the jaw.

Both stepped back heaving. Adrenaline now coursing not online through Parker, but through Hardison as well.

"What the hell is going on?" Hardison breathed pulling Parker towards the door.

"I don't know. One minute that bartender was telling us about Nate, the next minute we were surrounded."

Hardison tried to ignore the mention of the bartender. "We need to get over there." He grabbed her hand possessively ready to lead her out. "Are you okay?" He asked sincerely and peered at the cut above her eyebrow.

She didn't get a chance to answer.

"You BITCH!" The door slammed open breaking the pane of glass, pieces crashing to the ground. Victoria, more furious and violent than Parker had seen her before barged in whip in hand, nose bloodied and swollen. Victoria B-Lined for Parker and Hardison stepped in the way yet again trying to protect Parker. He was determined that this cat fight wouldn't happen.

Victoria didn't even give him a chance, sending her whip in his direction flinging him to the floor. Parker backed up looking for anything to defend herself. Another figure barged in and he looked all too familiar.

Parker looked in surprise and then angrily glared at Emil as he stood in the doorway, obviously guarding it for Victoria. Parker berated herself for not seeing it, or figuring it out. Archie was right, bartenders and taxi drivers are not to be trusted.

Victoria stood in front of Parker for a moment allowing Parker to get a good look at her smashed in nose. Parker was sure it was at least dislocated, if not broken, but Victoria seemed to handle it like a boxer with no regret, no pain, no remorse.

Victoria slapped Parker across the face with all of the force she had in her, pulling her entire body into it. The noise echoed and Hardison winced in anger while Emil looked away. Parker's eyes burned and she knew that her face had to be red by that point. Ignoring the stinging sensation, she felt around on the table behind her and caught her hand on something. Without warning she stabbed Victoria at the top of her arm and dragged the tattoo gun down to her elbow slicing through the leather.

Victoria let out a bloodcurdling scream and pulled back with fury. Emil jumped forward ready to help but ran into Hardison trying to do the same thing for Parker.

Parker's watery eyes looked over at the door watching yet another familiar face storm in. This time it was the bartender, brandishing a rifle. Without warning a shot rang out. She watched in horror as Hardison fell to his knees.

"Hardison!" Her face pale, watching in horror.

He looked over at her with wide eyes and pulled the silver tranquilizer dart from his chest. She tried to move forward to catch him, but he unceremoniously hit the floor with a thud, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Victoria was busy nursing her arm as blood dripped from the thin tattoo line.

Another shot pierced the air and Parker felt a stinging sensation. She quickly pulled the tranquilizer dart from her shoulder but it was too late. The venom was already coursing through her veins, further immobilizing her by the second. She dropped to her knees no longer able to hold her own weight. She looked from Emil, to the bartender, to Victoria (who gave her a sneering grin) and then to Hardison as everything disappeared into blackness.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note:

Here you go! (Also, sorry about some of the spelling mistakes. I swear they aren't there until it gets published, then they pop up everywhere!)

Thanks again. Without you, well, I wouldn't continue. :)

Chapter 13:

His head was throbbing and something didn't feel quite right. He squinted, slowly opening his eyes and then was sure something was wrong.

Hardison looked up and saw his feet. Now that's not right, he questioned. His ankles were snuggly roped to a metal bar upside down. It looked almost like an industrialized pull up bar but instead of being in gym, it was on top of a building. His face paled as he looked down. Below him was nothing but a 30 story drop, pavement far down below.

"Holy shit." He choked. He looked over and saw Parker unconscious hanging upside down, ponytail dangling in the air. He looked to his other side and Eliot hung unconscious, the rope that hugged their ankles the only thing between them and a painful plummet to the earth.

They were each facing the roof of the building where an oversized man sat at a table, set perfectly as if he were dining in a fancy restaurant. Hardison could even see the wine chilled on the table's edge. Hardison noticed Victoria pacing behind this mysterious man and some of the goons standing guard in the back.

Hardison felt the wind whip through him. His heart made a thudding noise, his body tense. There was no way he could describe the panic that coursed through his veins knowing that at any moment the rope could snap and he would fall to his death. He wasn't sure how long they had been hanging there, but he knew that his head pounded and that it wasn't good for all the blood in his body to rush to his brain.

"Parker, Eliot." He whispered forcefully. He was grateful that they hadn't bound his arms. He made a grab for Parker's shoulder.

She groaned and he watched as she blinked a few times, slowly opening her eyes. He turned his head and watched Eliot come to.

"Fuck!" Eliot's voice rung out feeling the same unexpected panic that Hardison experienced when he first woke.

Parker didn't say much and it didn't surprise him that she wasn't afraid, though he was sure he spotted a momentary surprise cross her face.

"Are you okay?" Parker breathed to Hardison, her memory sending her back to the tattoo parlor where she saw him drop to the floor.

"I'm hanging upside down off of a 30 story building. Does it look like I'm okay?" Hardison didn't even try to hide his anger.

Parker ignored him and craned her neck to see Eliot who was coming to terms with the situation.

"Eliot." She called over to him.

"I'm fine." He gruffed. Hardison gave him a look.

"Did you just say you were fine?" He said incredulous.

"Shut-up Hardison. Now is not the time." Eliot answered calmly.

"Oh, so when would be a good time? When we are pancakes on the back alley of this stupid city?"

Eliot ignored him and watched the large man sitting at the table. Eliot noticed Victoria walk up to the man and whisper something in his ear. The graying man nodded and wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin from his lap placing it gently on the table.

"I see you have all joined me." The man stood up and made his way over to them. Eliot could feel the blood flowing to his head.

They remained silent.

"I see you have met my daughter, Victoria." Parker glared over at her. Victoria crossed her arms and returned a smug devilish look. Despite Parker's situation, she took immense joy in the white gauze that now covered Victoria's nose. Parker inwardly smiled, taking pride in her handywork.

The man was silent a moment and rubbed his chin considering where to start.

"I would like to formally introduce myself." He spoke in a languid tone as if he were enjoying a relaxing afternoon. "My name is Marat. Say it weeth me…MaRAHT." Parker could tell he was taking pleasure in this.

"Before I share weeth you, why you are here, I'd like to show you one of my new favorite contraptions." He gestured to the bar that they hung from. They waited for him to continue. "You see, I have been waiting quite a while to use zees and here in one day I get to test it three times its normal holding capacity."

Hardison gulped. Marat continued.

"Now, I would like you to know that I can bring you in at any moment." He pressed a button and the bar started migrating close to the safety of the building. Marat let go of the button and they jerked to a stop. Marat leaned his head to the other side, "On zee other hand, I also have a very fine machete here that I like to use when my guests are not providing me weeth…respect." He guided the machete along a rope. Parker followed the rope line from where Marat stood to the edge of the building, along the bar to her ankles. She could tell that Eliot and Hardison had put the pieces together as well.

Marat paused and smiled knowing that they fully understood the severity of the situation as well as the power that he possessed.

"Now, I do not want to waste your precious time, so I will get straight to eet." Victoria walked up behind him greedily. "Not twenty four hours ago I welcomed you into my party and allowed you to enjoy a night of gambling, did I not?" They didn't move. He continued anyway. "And how do you repay me?"

With that he looked directly at Parker. His face remained impassive, but Parker knew that she had done something to this man. Eliot and Hardison looked over at her. The silence was deafening.

"You steal from my home." Parker closed her eyes. Though Eliot and Hardison were completely lost, she had already figured out what she'd done. Marat smiled at her knowing she'd made the connection.

"So you remember."

Eliot and Hardison whipped their heads from Marat back to Parker.

"Why don't you tell your friends?" Marat gave the same grin that she saw on Victoria's face.

Eliot and Hardison looked at her expectantly, brows furrowed.

"The diamond." She whispered.

Marat cupped his hand up to his ear and leaned forward.

"What was that, my dear?" He asked.

"The Lady Luck Diamond." Parker responded through gritted teeth.

"Ahh, yes, zee Lady Luck Diamond." He repeated in a singsong voice.

"My Diamond!" Victoria burst out taking another step forward as she gripped her whip and wrung it. Parker reflexively rolled her eyes and had no doubt that Victoria was imagining wringing Parker's neck.

Marat put up a hand, instantly silencing her.

Parker could feel Eliot and Hardison staring at her and guilt began to seep through her pores.

"My daughter veel be getting married and her one wish was to own zees diamond." Marat looked back at his daughter in adoration. She smiled back a sickly sweet smile that made Parker gag. "How can I deny my only daughter zee one thing she wants more than anything?" He paused, his face shifting from love for his daughter to hardness when looking at the three of them as they continued to hang upside down swaying in the wind.

"You can't prove it. You probably had hundreds of thugs and thieves at your party. How do you know that she was the one that stole it? Sounds like you have something against blondes." Hardison countered sputtering out any excuse that he could think of. He found it a lot harder to think on his feet when he was hanging upside down. Even though he was defending her, he still stung with anger and disappointment. What was worse was that he knew that only Parker could be so bold as to steal a ring while she was drunk and get away with it, he just hoped that Marat didn't.

Marat smiled and motioned one of the goons forward. He pressed a few buttons and immediately handed a laptop to Marat who turned the screen around for the three of them to get a clear look.

On the screen they identified that what they were watching was a security feed of Parker in her Princess Leia outfit. Hardison didn't blink, not being able to keep himself from enjoying Parker in that costume. They watched her grab the ring and slowly put it on her left ring finger. She stared at it for a moment in adoration and then began to Moon Walk. Eliot and Hardison's faces remained serious but neither could help but let a small grin slip. Parker scrunched her face in embarrassment. They continued to watch Parker successfully Moon Walk around the room then wave the ring in front of the camera. It didn't surprise the trio that she was aware of the camera, but it did surprise them that she wasn't at all concerned at being caught on tape.

Finally, after another minute or so, Marat making sure they got a good look, he closed the laptop and handed it back to the man behind him.

"So. Because we learned quickly of this, I had to take collateral." He paused. "I understand from Emil that you have been looking for your friend?" With that all three snapped to attention.

"You have Nate?" Parker asked. "Is he dead?" Her heart pounded in her chest. If he had been killed because of her, she would never forgive herself. For a split second an image of her brother flashed through her memory.

Marat remained silent, building anticipation, but smiled and shook his head. He motioned the man forward again and this time the goon handed him a phone.

"Not yet, anyway. Besides, he wouldn't be collateral if he was dead, now would he?" Marat answered holding the phone out for them to see. They watched in horror as Nate lay unconscious against a wall with a ticking bomb strapped around his stomach. Parker gritted her teeth.

"Eet was funny." Marat mused. "At first I thought you were with the police." He waved the badge Parker had stolen in front of them. "But knew zat could not be true, because you are not on my payroll." He gave a belly laugh and chucked the badge to the ground. A few thugs behind him chuckled. "Which means that you and your friend will not be missed if somezing…happens."

Eliot clenched his jaw. He hated not being in control.

"What do you want?" Parker asked with a sigh.

"My ring back you bitch!" Victoria spat out.

"SILENCE!" Marat barked back to Victoria.

"Return zee ring and I weel consider letting your friend live…despite what you have done to my daughter." Marat answered calmly looking directly at Parker.

Parker nodded, though behind the exterior her mind was a frenzy. Of course she had to be the one to steal the ring, and she had to be the one that stabbed Marat's daughter with the tattoo gun.

"At nine tomorrow morning you weel drop zee ring off downtown at zees location" he held up a piece of paper and set it on the table under a salt shaker so it wouldn't fly away, "and we will return your precious friend." He paused then added. "If I do not have the ring back on time, your friend weel…how do you say…sweem with zee fishes? Do we have a deal?" Marat asked politely.

The three nodded, all knowing that transactions like this were never as simple as they sounded.

"Very well." He nodded and made to leave. The guards were already heading down the stairs, but Marat paused for a moment and looked back.

"But you know" he contemplated, "I do not sink it takes three people to find a ring, do you my darling?" He looked back at Victoria who gave a quick and angry shake of the head.

Without a seconds hesitation Marat pulled his machete and slashed one of the rope lines.

"NO!" Parker screamed as Hardison plummeted to the earth.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note:

Okay everyone, keep breathing. :D

You know how much I love cliffhangers, and I've been very mean these past few chapters, but just keep going, don't give up!

I had a personal goal to beat my highest hits rate on a chapter posting day, and this past chapter actually beat my goal by almost 200 hits, so thank you for reading!

Please keep reviewing and I'll keep posting!

Chapter 14:

Eliot couldn't tell who was screaming louder, Parker or Hardison. Parker shrieked his name as Hardison howled for his life. Eliot had to admit that his heart was pounding, but these situations were exactly what he trained for and the reason he was able to think fast.

Parker was dizzy with fear, a deadly guilt slammed into her chest. She felt as if her mind cracked and she truly had gone insane with a mixture of rage, guilt, and horror. She didn't even realize she was screaming. Nothing made sense. All she could think was, 'I'm a murderer.' The pain stabbed at her causing her throat to constrict, stopping the screams and replacing them with a choked sob.

When she finally stopped, she heard another voice, hollering at her.

"Parker." She ignored it, assuming the devil was finally calling her name.

"PARKER." Her eyes were out of focus, and she was sure she was going crazy, but she didn't realize the devil sounded like Eliot.

"FUCKING HELL PARKER, SNAP OUT OF IT." She finally cleared her thoughts and saw Eliot hanging and yelling at her.

Looking down, her heart jumped a beat. There, directly beneath Eliot was a dangling Hardison screaming for dear life. In all the excitement, Eliot had grabbed Hardison's ankle.

"Parker, HELP!" Eliot yelped. "I can't hold on for much longer."

Hardison continued to scream. "Don't you dare let go!"

Parker didn't waste any time. She quickly pulled herself up and crawled onto the bar. Her cat like reflexes made this easier and she steadied herself as she pulled her feet out of the ropes. Her heart pounded. She now stood on the bar, like a tight rope walker, but instead of a safety net, there was a 30 story drop.

"Hurry." Eliot complained, closing his eyes in concentration. Parker held her breath and leaped.

The bar made a noise and the bolts holding them up were strained. Parker flung herself to the building with all of her strength. The jump was far and she knew that it was just as likely that she jumped to her death as landing safely on the cement building.

The building was close and she was almost there. The tips of her converse shoes caught the edge but she slipped, sliding down the side. She grabbed the building's edge with her hands, but gravity was still pulling her off the edge. The cement scraped her palms raw as her fingers caught the edge of the building.

There they were, all clinging for their lives against the side of the building. Parker winced in pain. She knew Eliot couldn't hold on much longer. Her eyes watered as she shakily pulled herself up. Her muscles burned the entire way and she was half certain that her body would let out at any moment. She half wanted it to.

She flung her leg over, flipping herself onto the building. She was sure she would pass out, but she laid there for a moment allowing the blood to rush back to the rest of her body and to relax.

"Parker!" Hardison yelped. It quickly snapped her out of her reverie and she flung herself to the contraption control box. She followed the buttons down to the one that reeled them in and pressed it hard. To her immense relief, they began reeling in. Once they got close to the edge she ran over and helped pull Hardison to safety. Once he had safely fallen to the cement heaving, she ran back to reel Eliot the rest of the way in.

She forced her tired body to rush up to him and release his ankles from the restraints. He fell to the ground, barely catching himself with his arms.

Parker dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Each heaving sighs of relief, lying on the cement like it was a pillow. Hardison was sure he was never happier to be laying on scratchy cement in his entire life. They sat there for a solid twenty minutes before anyone spoke a word.

"I don't think we will be getting on tonight's flight." Eliot said heavily.

"I don't think I will be getting on any flight in the near future." Hardison answered. "Heights have now jumped to the top of my never gonna happen list."

"What happens now?" Parker asked. Her voice finally steady enough to speak.

"We save Nate." Eliot answered. "We find the ring."

Parker closed her eyes again. The ring.

After another thirty minutes of doing everything they could to avoid standing, they trudged to their feet and started making their way down the stairs. Hardison's face was stern and he looked deep in thought. Parker was a little worried. It shouldn't have surprised her that his demeanor had changed, he almost lost his life, but she was surprised and worried none the less. The last memory of the rope falling sent a chill down her spine.

They knew they were lost, and eventually made it to a street they recognized. Parker had 'accidentally' bumped into someone walking down the road, slipping her hand into his pocket and nabbing his phone.

She stood in front of Eliot without a word, holding the phone out. They all knew what needed to be done.

"Not this time. It's someone else's turn." Eliot was shaking his head vehemently.

"You did so well last time." Parker encouraged, her face still grave.

"I lied last time." Eliot responded. "Hardison." He looked over at Hardison who was obviously not paying attention. Eliot could understand, he had just been moments from death. Not everyone can cope easily.

Finally, Eliot looked sternly at Parker. "It's you." He pushed the phone back into her hands.

She shook her head and shoved it back to him.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors?" She offered.

"Are you serious?" Eliot groaned. His body and his mind were in no mood for games. All he wanted was to get back to his room and forget this day ever happened.

Parker held out her hand, fist above palm in the preparatory Rock, Paper, Scissors position. Eliot gave a huge sigh and did the same.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!" Parker announced. Both threw their respective hand gesture out.

Eliot's fist was immediately covered by Parker's 'Paper' hand. She smiled wickedly.

"I hate you." He muttered as Parker's smiled widened finally shoving the phone into his hand permanently.

Parker went over and sat next to Hardison. He reflexively moved himself further away, being sure not to look her in the eye. She knew something was wrong, but against her better judgment remained silent.

Parker looked as Eliot dialed and waited for an answer on the other end dreading what was to come.

"Nate?" The clear voice answered urgently through the phone. He could tell she was nervous and worried. He hung his head a little lower, and took a preparatory breath.

"Sophie, its Eliot." He could hear the pause of dissatisfaction and uncomfortably switched the phone from one ear to the other. He felt the tension through the phone. Without even seeing her, he knew that she crossed arms. He glanced over at Parker and Hardison who sat on the steps a few feet away. Parker leaned forward, biting her lip and Hardison rubbed the bridge of his nose, head drooping down.

The dead silence continued for a few seconds, Eliot knew she was waiting for him. Through all the battles he fought, this was one of the worst.

"It's bad, Sophie."

"What happened?"

"We lost Nate."

Another long silence.

Parker stood up and walked over to listen in on the conversation. She leaned in, pulling Eliot down a little as he turned the phone so they could both hear, not that Sophie was saying anything at the moment.

"Sophie, you there?" Eliot glanced nervously over at Parker who returned his gaze. It had been far too long since she had spoken and he was half afraid she hung up. Without warning-

"YOU ARE BLOODY REDICULOUS!" Both Parker and Eliot jumped back, Eliot immediately pulling the phone away from his ear. Even with the phone arm distance, her voice was loud and clear reverberating like a loudspeaker. Even Hardison looked up at the phone in surprise. "ALL YOU HAD TO BLOODY DO WAS GET ON THE BLOODY PLANE THIS MORNING! HOW DIFFICULT IS THAT? IT'S LIKE YOU NEED TWENTY-FOUR HOUR SUPERVISION! I'M NOT YOUR BLOODY MOTHER!" Eliot and Parker looked at one another, eyes a little wider now. "IF YOU DON'T FIND NATE AND GET ON THE BLOODY AIRPLANE BY TOMORROW MORNING I WILL PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND KILL YOU ALL MYSELF!"

"Soph-," Eliot tried to say something but was cut off again.

"HERE I AM, PULLING A FIVE PERSON CON BY MYSELF. DO YOU KNOW HOW DIFFICULT…NO, HOW IMPOSSIBLE THAT IS?"

"Sophie" Eliot tried again. Parker chewed on her finger nail.

"NO ELIOT SPENCER, YOU DON'T SAY ANOTHER WORD. YOU BETTER BLOODY FIND NATE AND GET BACK HERE BY TOMORROW OR ELSE." Without another word the phone went dead.

The three were silent all surprised by the verbal thrashing they had just received.

"Does she sound more British when she's angry?" Parker questioned. Eliot gave her a look. Leave it to Parker to add something irrelevant to what was already a difficult situation.

"Do you have any ideas Hardison?" Eliot looked over at him expecting a miracle.

"What am I supposed to do with a toothpick and roll of duct tape?" He huffed, flicking his toothpick to the ground.

"Damnit Hardison!" Hardison jumped up from his seat.

"Damnit Eliot!" Both glared at each other.

"Just do some nerdy thing and find Nate already!"

"Oh, you did not just call my gift with technology a…nerdy thing."

"Well, that's what it is isn't it?" Eliot glared at him.

"Guys stop it." Parker whined. Hardison ignored her.

"Oh, well, why don't you just go punch something; I mean, that's _your_ thing right?"

"I hope you have a robot or geek squad member coming to rescue you, because you are really going to need some help when I get a hold of you."

Hardison stood up a little taller, pulling his fists in balls and bouncing back and forth like a nutty boxer urging Eliot to 'bring it on'. Eliot didn't move. The edges of his lips twitched into a smile that only Parker caught and he motioned Hardison forward.

Parker rolled her eyes. "We are in so much trouble."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note:

Thank you all for sticking with me through all the cliffs.

Chapter 15:

Parker sighed. The so called 'fight' that both hitter and hacker instigated was less than entertaining. It looked more like two blobs trying to shove each other over. Parker rolled her eyes. She didn't even have the energy to move, much less start a fight.

"Oh look, Eliot knocked you over." Parker yawned. "Can we go now?"

Hardison heaved himself off the ground, now in an even fowler mood.

"Yeah, let's go." Eliot resigned, fixing his shirt.

"I am so not walking the rest of the way." Hardison complained.

"All in favor of hijacking a car say aye." Parker responded.

"Aye." Both Hardison and Eliot answered with as much enthusiasm as they could muster.

The three walked down the street a ways, Parker shopping for her car of choice.

"Let's go already." Eliot barked.

Parker turned around and glared at him as she stopped at the blue Mazda 3 to her left.

"This one? This is your choice?" Hardison argued.

Parker nodded. "It's the least amount of hassle. If you have a problem, go find your own." She was up to her nose in Hardison's snide remarks and was relieved when he stuck his nose in the air crossed his arms and remained quiet.

Parker chose this particular vehicle not because it was at all easier to break into as far as the mechanics were concerned, but simply put, the doors were unlocked. She quickly opened the driver's side door and craned herself underneath the seat and pulled the plastic covering beneath the steering wheel for access to the ignition wiring. After a few seconds the engine revved to life and Parker gave a self satisfied grin as she buckled up and began to drive.

"So this ring." Eliot started. "What's the deal?"

Parker looked over at Eliot as she sped up. "The Lady Luck Diamond is one of a kind."

"Explain." Eliot gestured her to elaborate.

"The Lady Luck Diamond was originally the engagement ring of Queen Victoria from Prince Albert."

"So?" Eliot responded.

"Parker, that's a red light." Hardison warned holding onto the seat as best he could. Parker ignored him.

"Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were in love, real love." Parker sped past the red light, relishing the shriek she heard from the backseat.

"Parker slow down." Eliot growled. "So, who cares if they were in love?"

"Throughout history, royalty rarely married because they loved one another, it was more about connections and power. They _actually_ loved each other."

"So what does this have to do with the diamond?" Eliot asked, bracing himself for a sharp turn to the left. Hardison slammed up against the side of the car, cursing.

"This was her engagement ring." Parker said smiling.

"Parker, car!" Eliot yelled as she swerved out of the way.

"Stop the car Parker! Time for someone else to drive." Hardison stifled behind them.

Parker ignored him again.

"What does her ring have to do with anything?" Eliot asked still not understanding the full picture.

Parker swerved again passing another red light.

"It is said that every time that ring has been passed down since then, and has been given to a woman; they have lived long lives together happily married."

"It's called commitment Parker. Not some lucky ring bullshit."

Parker sneered at Eliot, catching him by surprise.

"Parker." Eliot asked. "Are you…a romantic?"

Parker's eyes widened. "Of course not." She responded resolutely as she swerved into a back alley about a mile away from the hotel.

"What are you doing?" Hardison questioned.

"We need to ditch the car. Can't be seen with it." She answered quickly, pulling herself out. She continued to go on about the ring.

"Jeweler's say it's the clarity that's most important for a diamond." Parker shook her head as they walked towards the hotel. "But they are lying, that's just the easiest for them to demonstrate." She glanced over at Hardison who looked straight ahead. "I mean, anyone can see imperfections, but it's the cut that makes the difference."

"Okay…" Eliot answered.

"This diamond reflects light perfectly and it wasn't even laser cut." Parker elaborated.

"So this is the perfect diamond?" Eliot concluded.

"Well, the perfect diamond with the perfect story." Parker exclaimed. "It's the idea behind the perfect diamond that makes it so…perfect. So...desirable."

Eliot rolled his eyes. "So you are telling me that we are in this mess because you want prince charming?"

Parker gave another sneer as they made their way into the hotel lobby.

"Who are they?" Eliot asked pointing over to a camera crew near the underwater dining area across the lobby.

"Probably interested in Nate's rendition of the Running Man." Hardison quipped. All three quickly made their way to the elevators, naturally avoiding publicity. Stealthy or not, all three knew the risks of being caught on television.

The rooms were exactly as they found them, even Hardison's. He smartly put the 'Do not Disturb' sign up on his door earlier that morning to avoid being kicked out of his room. He knew that hotels like this would not appreciate a trashed room. They decided it best to congregate in Eliot's room.

"So, let me get this straight." Eliot called from the bathroom as he tried to wipe the grime and blood from his face. "There is a magic romance ring that you stole while we were drunk, we have no idea where it is and we have less than 15 hours to get it or Nate is dead?"

"That about sums it up." Hardison snapped as he leaned back in his chair. Parker looked down at the bed where she sat.

Eliot walked out of the bathroom and paced next to the bed.

"Okay, so, if I was Parker, where would I hide a diamond ring?" Eliot bit his lip in thought, glancing over at Hardison who had his eyes shut.

"Bedroom?"

"Nope." Parker answered. "Already checked."

Eliot didn't look discouraged. "Mail it to yourself?"

"Probably not." Hardison inserted, eyes still shut.

"How about-?" Eliot started, but was interrupted by a frustrated Parker.

"It's no use." She heaved as she fell back onto the bed, hands covering her face. "It probably slid off somewhere."

"Okay." Eliot tried to continue, "So we just have to backtrack."

"No." Parker interjected. "We still have no idea if we even came back here after the Volcano Club. It could be anywhere." She gave another sigh. "This is all my fault."

"Will you stop with that already?" Hardison hollered sitting erect in his chair. "It's not your fault; we just got really drunk, so shut up about it already."

Parker was surprised at his tone. He had never told her to shut-up before, and it stung.

Eliot looked at her with a curious eye. He had known all along that there was more to this than Parker was letting on. Just because he wasn't a grifter didn't mean he couldn't see the moments of mental anguish that would flash across Parker's face throughout the day.

Eliot could see that Parker and Hardison were piping hot and taking it out on the other. He decided to change tactics.

"It's weird, isn't it, that even under the influence you were able to bypass all of their video cameras, motion detectors, armed guards and vault passwords to get to that ring."

Parker answered by shoving the pillow over her head. "Kill me now." She muffled through the pillow.

"Parker." Eliot asked slowly. "How did you know about the passwords?"

There was a silence. Parker knew it was time to come clean. Her lies had overlapped on themselves and Nate's life now hung in the balance.

She sat up, pillow in her lap, gave a huge sigh and answered.

"I have a contact in the city." She started. "He gave me the information in return for..."

"You slept with him!" Hardison yelped, now jumping out of his chair.

"No, you idiot." Now she was angry and leapt up on her feet as well. "I bought a large quantity of his illegal…substances."

"No, no, no, no, no." Eliot said shaking his head. Hardison looked over at him confused, still up, but relieved that Parker hadn't done the nasty with her inner-city contact.

Parker looked down at her shoes.

"What?" Hardison asked looking from Parker to Eliot clearly not having put the pieces together.

Eliot gave him a look. "She drugged us. That's why we don't remember. Parker drugged us."


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note:

I haven't updated as fast as I normally do due to internet issues, but here is another chapter! This is for all you Hardison/Parker fans. :)

Chapter 16:

Hardison stared at her stunned. She felt like she was now under a spotlight, but it seemed to transform into a laser ready to cut through her. She knew that they would find out eventually, but had originally imagined that they would have all had a great time and be best friends by this point.

She waited for the inevitable explosion but Hardison said nothing, he just averted his eyes and barged out of the room.

Eliot sighed staring haplessly at his bed, wondering when he would get to fall into it and forget everything.

"Parker." He honestly didn't know what to say. The big brother instinct in him was torn. He felt the need to scold her for her misbehavior, but also put his arm around her to console her. He could tell she was fighting an internal battle. This was Parker, he knew. She never thinks things through and this was a perfect example.

He watched her intently, deciding to remain silent. She stared at the wall, then at the floor, her eyes flicking like she was putting something together. Then she looked up.

"It wasn't Vampires." She said.

"What are you talking about?" Eliot asked.

"It wasn't Vampires, or ghosts, or costumes, or the X-Men…" she trailed off.

"What wasn't?" Eliot asked again ready to just ignore her and leap into his comforter.

"It wasn't any of them. It was me. I killed Nate."

Eliot took a deep breath, ready to act out the consoling older brother, but wasn't given the chance. When he opened his mouth, he stopped short, watching as her face transform from depressed, forlorn Parker, to angry, irate Parker within seconds.

Without another word, she grabbed the room key generator and stormed out.

The hall was narrow and Hardison's room was right across from Eliot's. Parker didn't waste any time, her anger fueling her actions. She unceremoniously stuck the room key generator into Hardison's door and shoved it open.

"What is your fucking problem, Hardison?"

She watched as Hardison froze. He was in mid-process of picking up a beer can off the floor, his back to her. She was seething and the feeling of finally letting him have it soared like a dragon within her.

Hardison slowly swiveled around and stood straight up, letting the beer can drop to the floor. Parker remained tall, waiting.

Hardison opened his mouth, ready to say something and closed it. Parker almost spoke again, but before she could Hardison went rigid.

"Do you really want to know what my problem is?" He asked icily. Parker could almost feel the chill in the air, but the molten flame inside of her kept her asking for more.

Parker gave a curt nod, glaring at him.

"YOU!" He yelled at her as he kicked the can across the room.

She was taken aback but it didn't stop her. "Oh, please. You fall off one small building and it's the end of the world."

Hardison made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a high pitched scream. He took a step towards her. "First off, no, I don't like falling off buildings. Any _normal_ person would feel the same way. Second, don't pretend I'm stupid Parker, quit treating me like I am. I trusted you."

She looked away. "I never lied to you Hardison. But you can't say the same thing, can you?"She asked seething.

"What the hell are you talking about? You drugged me, got Nate kidnapped and if you are having trouble remembering, had us hanging upside down on top of a building not two hours ago!"

"That wasn't the way the plan was supposed to go." Parker mumbled.

"No, because there was no plan, because you can't trust us enough to tell us what's going on." Hardison glared at her, ready for her counter-attack.

"Oh, that's rich, coming from someone who records all of our phone conversations and tracks our online history."

"So you should know that I'm not as lost as Eliot when it comes to that Diamond you stole."

Parker clamped her mouth shut. "That's right Parker, I know that this wasn't just a quickie one night theft that you made it out to be. You drugged us on purpose. You drugged us so you could get this ring."

This caught Parker off guard. Her one track mind at the time really did think that she was helping the crew by adding a little bit of fun to their drinks.

"That's not true."

There was silence for a moment. "You have been planning this con for months." Hardison started. "You were just lucky when we found out that Nate needed to help a friend in the same exact city as your precious Lady Luck ring."

There was another silence. Parker searched frantically through her mind for some sort of comment, a comeback that would steer him off course.

"Why do you care so much about this ring anyway?" Hardison questioned, though the tone was more sarcastic than curious.

"I told you guys, it was the perfect diamond." Parker retorted.

"See, you are lying again." Hardison pushed on.

Parker was surprised at how direct he was. She had never seen him this way. She was furious with him and she wanted him to be furious with her.

"I'm not lying, that's your job." Parker sneered.

Hardison threw his arms up, completely lost. It only drove him more crazy.

"YOU WANT THE RING BECAUSE YOU WANT TO FALL IN LOVE!" Hardison yelled.

Parker was struck silent.

"It's none of your business why I want the ring." Parker hissed through gritted teeth.

Hardison gave a mirthful laugh. "Well, don't worry, I think that douchebag bartender is free. Why don't you get back to it, I'm sure he'll be waiting in the coat closet for you after he finishes off'ing Nate."

Parker boiled over. She stormed up and shoved Hardison back a few steps. "Don't you ever insinuate that the situation with Nate is what I wanted. And don't you dare" she slowed her voice to make sure he got every word, "talk to me about how I spend my time. You focus on your secret girlfriend and I'll focus on my diamond."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!" Hardison yelled at the top of his lungs. She kept accusing him of lying, and now of having a secret girlfriend! Maybe she was crazy and he'd just never seen it. His fury was at the breaking point. He couldn't believe that after all this waiting and following and supporting he had done that she now absurdly accused him of having a girlfriend. Did she know him at all? Eliot was the one with the girls; maybe she was confusing him with Eliot.

"THE TERRORIST!" Parker exploded.

"What fucking terrorist?" Hardison shot. He was now completely lost in Parker's inner mind maze.

"ASHLEY MOORE!"

Hardison looked at her in disbelief. "Ashley, the double-blind job, Ashley?" Hardison remembered it well. Ashley had been chased after by fake FBI after searching for proof that her sister's death was due to Palogen and their faulty drug trial.

Parker didn't say anything, but Hardison knew it was her.

"I haven't seen her in months." Hardison sighed, unable to understand what was going through her mind.

"I'm a thief Hardison."

"Really?" Hardison added sarcastically.

"You have been exchanging letters…I saw them on your table." Parker added, hoping that he would finally admit it.

"Yeah." Hardison made a face as if to say, 'so what.' "We keep in contact. She lets me know how she is doing."

"See!" Parker honed in. "We never keep in contact with resolved cases." Parker answered.

"No, you don't keep in contact, Parker. Besides, don't pretend that this has anything to do with Ashley."

"Okay, then, mister hotshot, what does it have to do with?" Parker stood back, waiting for this explanation.

"It's you. You are afraid. You don't have the guts to do anything about your feelings!" Hardison was actually relieved to say this. He had been holding it in for so long that it felt good to let it out.

"I don't have feelings!" Parker exclaimed, tensing up like she was being trapped in a corner with no escape.

"Then why do you want this ring so bad?" Hardison questioned, moving in further.

"Because I LIKE DIAMONDS!" Parker yelled, her escape seeming more distant by the second.

"NO!" Hardison said firmly. "You just want the easy way out. You want the short cut and you think this diamond will get it for you."

"No!" Parker attempted, but she knew he was just reeling her in.

"Stop being such a coward, Parker! Stop running and fight for what you want!"

They were inches apart now. Both breathing heavily glaring at one another.

"Fine." Parker hissed.

Without another beat, Parker's lips crashed into Hardison sweeping them both off their feet. They landed with a thump on the couch, Parker landing in his lap. Parker's demand caught him by surprise, but he slowly relaxed into the kiss, taking in her soft lips. She melted into his arms, and he snaked his arms around her waist. The adrenaline that had coursed through her veins commanded the sensation to continue and he happily obliged. The kiss was like an explosion of emotion, sending a line of chills down her spine. The past kisses they'd shared during previous cons were quick and distracted, this kiss, however trumped all others. They were now alone and able to put all their pent up anger, frustration, desperation, need, passion and desire into this one moment. Everything else disappeared.

Neither knew how long they embraced, but by the time they broke apart, both were taking deep breaths to calm their breathing.

Hardison was speechless. When he'd told her to take what she wanted, he had no idea that she was about to attack his face. His surprised face turned into a grin.

Parker sat back on his lap. She tried to steady her breathing as well as her shaking but it was no use.

Hardison watched her, afraid to say anything that might ruin this moment.

She looked away, slightly embarrassed, but before he could open his mouth her head snapped back over to him.

It was as if a lightbulb switched on inside her brain.

"I know where the diamond is!"


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Thanks again for all your support and awesome reviews. Thanks Saides, Blackspots and wolfofsheep for always adding your feedback!

Anyway, I'm glad I was able to give you guys a Parker/Hardison fix, and I feel like we will be seeing it in the show this season (which is awesome!).

Chapter 17:

The minute he saw Parker storm into Hardison's room he closed the door and flung himself onto his plush bed. He hadn't even bothered taking off his shoes before his mind and body relaxed and fell into unconsciousness. He tried to avoid the knock on the door, but it persisted, so he groggily pulled himself up and answered it.

"She what?" Eliot asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Parker thinks she knows where the diamond is." Hardison explained enthusiastically. Eliot groaned not understanding how Hardison was able to maintain this energy for so long. Eliot shrugged, and walked out the door running his fingers through his hair.

Parker was nowhere to be seen, but Hardison seemed to know where he was going. They entered the elevator and Hardison pushed the lobby button.

"So." Eliot questioned, leaning against the elevator wall as gravity pulled them down. "Where is it?"

"The Hulk is green." Hardison said in explanation.

"I swear Hardison, if you start talking like Parker I'm going to leave."

Hardison put up his hands, encouraging Eliot to be patient. "You were the Hulk at the convention, right?"

"Yeah." Eliot sighed, running his fingers through his hair again. He stopped.

"I was spray painted green."

Hardison nodded, grinning, then added. "So why weren't you green when you woke up this morning?"

"Because it was washed off." Eliot answered.

"Right." Hardison nodded. He glanced up and saw the ticking slow down and reach 'L' for the lobby. The door opened and Eliot followed Hardison.

"I could have taken a shower." Eliot offered, but Hardison was already shaking his head, prepared for that answer.

"I checked my entire bathroom and you were already in yours after we got back. Besides, all of us were damp when we woke up this morning."

"That's right." Eliot rubbed his chin. "I was sopping wet."

"Which means, we partied, and then took a late night swim at the pool." Hardison answered as they made their way up to the pool area outside.

Eliot and Hardison walked up to Parker who stood about twenty feet from the pool's edge.

"What's going on?" Eliot asked as he surveyed the surroundings. What was typically just a pool at sunset, was now an active crime scene. The entire pool was surrounded by yellow crime-tape. Quite a few other people stood around watching.

"I was right." Parker said with a lack of enthusiasm.

"Great." Eliot responded. "So, where's the ring?" He glanced to her hands and pockets to see if she was hiding it.

Parker answered by pointing to the twitchy Hotel Manager being interviewed by the cameramen.

"No, no, no, no." Eliot whined.

"Someone at the pool found the ring and turned it in." Parker explained looking at a twenty-something blonde female in the string bikini being interviewed by another set of cameras. Flash photography was going off everywhere and Parker, Eliot and Hardison disappeared into the background.

They congregated back in Eliot's room after Eliot and Hardison bought some take-out from the Chinese restaurant down the street.

"So what now?" Hardison asked as he dipped his chicken into the sweet and sour sauce proceeding took a bite.

"While you were gone, I scoped out the vault area." Parker responded, pulling her egg roll from the plastic bag. "There's good news and bad news."

"Let's start with some good news, we haven't had any of that in a while." Eliot proposed, taking a large bite of his veggie fried rice.

"Well, the good news is that the hotel isn't turning the ring over to the cops until tomorrow, which means it's still in the building and will be here until 8am tomorrow morning."

"Great, that will give us plenty of time to get the ring tonight and inspect the drop-off location tomorrow." Eliot resolved.

Parker shook her head. "See, the reason they are keeping it for the night is because they locked it in their high security vault, which closes at 6pm on the dot. It's on a timed release so it won't open for anyone from 6pm until 8am." She pointed to the digital clock by his bedstand. It read, 8:54pm.

"Ooh, that could be a problem." Hardison added.

"Come on, Parker, you've gotten into worse, I'm sure." Eliot looked over at her as she dove into her third egg roll.

"Normally, sure" she said with her mouthful, "but I usually have schematics and prep time. This would be on the fly, not that I can't do it," she hurried on, "but the best route for this type of heist is during transport."

"So what do you suggest?" Eliot asked.

Parker held up the police badge and smiled. Eliot was surprised; he hadn't even noticed her pick it up. He was so worn out on that rooftop that he would have forgotten about the piece of paper with the drop-off location on it if Hardison hadn't grabbed it.

"Why not let them just hand it to us?" Parker said sweetly.

For the next hour, the three of them hatched out their plan. The considered for a moment calling Sophie and giving her an update, but knew the less she knew, the better.

"Hardison, why don't you sleep in Nate's room tonight?" Eliot offered.

"Yeah, that was my plan. I swear, everything is demolished in my room." He gave a chuckle and furtively sent a sidelong glance over to Parker. She wasn't paying any attention, probably still going over the play by play in her head for tomorrow's theft.

After a few more minutes of finishing up their meal and stuffing it in the trash, Parker stood up. Hardison watched her, ready to follow.

"Goodnight, guys." Parker yawned and quickly disappeared. Hardison made to leave but didn't move, slightly put out. He had hoped to speak with her about their previous encounter.

"Well." Eliot said, clapping his hands together. Hardison got the hint. Eliot stood up and guided him to the door.

Hardison opened it and made it half way out the door before he stopped and turned around.

"Eliot?"

"Yep?" Glancing from his bed to Hardison and back again.

When Eliot finally got a good look at him, he could see Hardison standing awkwardly rubbing his palms together.

"I just wanted to say thanks, man." Hardison gave an embarrassed chuckle avoiding eye contact.

Eliot smiled, confused. "For what?"

"You know…for…saving my life."

Eliot hadn't really thought about it, to him it was just part of the job, part of protecting your family. It was weird for Hardison to give up a little of his pride and admit that someone else did something for him. Though, Eliot had to admit, he was the exact same way. Both stood there for a moment.

"It's no problem, man, you would have done the same if you were in my shoes."

Hardison gave a short nod, still not sure what to say.

"Besides" Eliot added. "You're my brother." Eliot clapped him on the shoulder.

With this Hardison looked up surprised. As long as they'd known each other there was this fierce battle that raged between the two men. They were in all honesty opposites. One used his brains for the team, the other used his brawn. One was social, the other was awkward. One drank orange soda, the other drank beer. The list could go on for days.

"Yeah" Hardison nodded. "Well, I'm beat." Hardison's voice changed from the serious back to his jovial nature.

Eliot nodded in agreement, "Me too."

"See you tomorrow morning." Hardison waved goodnight.

As Eliot closed the door, Hardison stood in the empty hallway. He walked to Nate's door, but stopped and glanced over at Parker's. He even managed to walk to her door and reach his arm up to knock, then paused. He thought about it again, pulled his arm away and retreated into Nate's room and went to bed. Unbeknownst to Hardison, if he had knocked on the door, Parker would have never answered, because she did not go back to her room after she left, she went downstairs.

Parker spent the next few hours evaluating, surveying, watching as the police and hotel management made their way back and forth from the vault. She watched who stood with authority, who they spoke with on the phone, everything. She was determined to save Nate, and there were going to be no more mistakes.

Well after midnight she made her way back up to her room. It was empty and cool. She flopped on her bed, thinking back to the day's events. Had it only been this morning when she was duct taped to the ceiling?

She decided it best to shower, let the grime and pain from the day wash off of her. As she stood there, letting the water flow, she thought back to the kiss. It was amazing and passionate. It scared her how he had evoked such anger and desire in her. It bothered her even more that now she didn't know where they stood. Were they friends still? Was he expecting more? Did he even want more? All these nervous feelings that she'd avoided for so long were seeping their way in and she couldn't stop it.

As she wrapped herself in the towel she almost wished that they could talk again, that he would knock on her door. She looked out the peephole, but knew that no one would be there. Her two boys were both probably fast asleep in their beds and she felt her own bed calling her name.

Turning the lamp off and setting her alarm, she relaxed, falling asleep to thoughts of warm kisses and diamond rings.

_Six hours later._

The beep of the alarm went off next to her bed. Next door, and across the hall two other alarms went off simultaneously.

Parker sat up with a determined look. "It's time to save Nate."


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: So we are getting to the last leg of the story now. I hope you guys are enjoying it.

Keep reviewing!

Chapter 18: 

"So we're all set?" Eliot's voice called over the com, he tapped the device in his ear to make sure it was still working.

"Ow, Eliot. Don't touch it, we can hear you." Hardison complained.

Eliot sat holding a magazine in front of his face in the lobby of the hotel. He glanced up at the clock. 7:58am. Two minutes. He watched as business men barked orders on cell phones followed by hyperactive bell hops helping push their luggage out the door. Parker explained that this would be an ordeal for the city so there would be plenty of cops. She was right, lots of police officers mulled around the lobby attempting to look important.

7:59am.

"I'm ready." Parker answered. Parker looked at her watch and went over to grab a chair. She was on the first floor in one of the hotel rooms. Parker gripped and re-gripped until she got a solid hold of the chair's back bars, finding it more difficult with gloves. She would have gone without them, but knew that fingerprints were worse.

"Ready." Hardison added. He sat his seat upright in the driver's side of a black sedan on the second floor of the parking garage. His seat was pulled all the way back so he could easily sit his computer on his lap, a few wires connected to some electronic devices haphazardly lying in the passenger's seat.

8:00am.

"Here we go." Parker breathed.

Paker then lifted the chair up over her head and slammed it up against the window with all of her strength. She heard the window crack, but knew she needed one more thrust before it actually shattered. She pulled the chair up again and with a grunt and all her remaining force, plunged the chair through the window.

Alarms went off everywhere. Eliot looked up to see the receptionist and hotel manager who had been pacing near the vault look up in alert. A few cops looked up in surprise and hurried over to the manager.

"Parker, time to go." Eliot called to her, trying not to move his lips.

Parker was already on it, lifting herself up into the ventilation shaft coughing as she crawled her way down endless tunnels.

"I'm heading in." Eliot mumbled as he set down the magazine. He paused a moment and watched as the majority of the cops disappeared towards the smashed window. The hotel manager was on the phone wheezing out curse words.

"His name is Newman Rutherford." Parker voiced over the com's.

"Mr. Rutherford." Eliot called to the pale faced man. His balding head jolted up at the sound of his name.

"What?" He responded continuing to talk on the phone.

"I'm here to pick up the package." He looked knowingly at the Rutherford.

"Hmph. Do you really think I'm that stupid?" The hotel manager mocked.

"Excuse me?" Eliot stood stunned for a moment. His initial rundown of Rutherford was overworked and easily distracted. Had this nervous wreck figured their scheme out that quickly?

"I'll hand the diamond over to a uniformed officer thank you very much." Rutherford looked away.

"Do you really think that the precinct is that stupid, Newman?" Eliot turned the tables attempting to catch him off guard.

It worked because the man looked up at him appalled, his phone lowering from his ear. Eliot continued to explain.

"This ring is connected to some pretty dirty stuff in this city. Do you really think a formal handover would be smart?"

Rutherford considered this. Eliot went on.

"If you really did formally hand it over to the police, on television, who do you think the mob would be targeting? The police officer or the man who has it in his hand?" Eliot clicked the back of his teeth as is if to say 'that settles it.' Rutherford gulped.

"Still, I need proof that you are in fact who you say you are, along with authorization from the Chief of Police to release the…package…to you." Rutherford stood resolute attempting to portray some pride and due diligence.

Eliot smiled and pulled the left flap of his jacket to reveal a tucked away police badge. Rutherford nodded then began dialing on his phone.

"Got it." Hardison called over the com's. He pressed a few buttons, took a breath and spoke into his headset.

"Precinct 22, how may I direct your call." Hardison attempted a young southern twang. Parker made a 'what the hell kind of accent was that' face while Eliot remained passive.

"I need to speak with Chief Hughes. He said that if I had any problems I should contact him directly on this number. It's Newman Rutherford at the Wilder Hotel."

"Of course, I'll patch you through." Hardison responded with the thick country accent.

Hardison paused for a moment.

"His name is David Hughes." Parker inserted.

"Please." Hardison joked. "I am sitting with a computer. I know his name, birthday, social security number, his favorite child, where he vacationed last year, how long he's worked at the police-"

Eliot turned away. "We get it!" He barked through gritted teeth. Rutherford hadn't noticed, but waited patiently tapping his shoe. Eliot gave him an encouraging nod.

"This is Hughes." Hardison gruffed trying to imitate the Chief as best he could.

"Yes, this is Newman Rutherford at the Wilder Hotel." He said it in more of a question then a statement letting all three know that he would follow whatever orders the Chief gave.

"Did Truman get the package yet?"

"Truman?" Rutherford asked, looking over at Eliot.

Eliot raised his hand and nodded.

"You need to do this soon. I don't want things to get…unpleasant for you and your hotel guests." Hardison hinted.

"Should we evacuate the guests?" Rutherford asked nervously glancing at a few of the guests lounging in the dining area.

"No, the less attention this gets the better. I have my best guy on it. Are you telling me Truman isn't there yet?" Hardison's tone darkened trying to give a severe raspy voice.

"Yes, he is here. Right on time." Rutherford hurried glancing apologetically over at Eliot.

"Great, well, hurry this up. If you wait longer, I won't be able to ensure your safety." Hardison pushed.

Hardison was worried because they were running out of time. The alarm had been shut off and the real police would probably be back at any minute to officially hand the ring over. After that, everything would be ruined.

"Of course." Rutherford answered following orders.

Rutherford quickly moved to the vault and glanced momentarily over his shoulder as he typed in the vault security key.

"His wife's birthday." Parker called over the com referencing the numeric combination.

"How did you know that?" Hardison asked.

"It's always the wife's birthday."

Eliot rolled his eyes as Rutherford pulled the door open. Before they could walk in, Eliot pulled him to the side.

"Before we go in, I need to give you an idea of how the handoff will go." Eliot put his arm around Rutherford who leaned in as if finally being let in on a secret.

Eliot continued to take a moment and go over some sleight of hand tricks for the quiet handoff and how he should handle the press afterwards.

Finally they turned and walked into the vault together. Rutherford put up a hand as he unlocked the center drawer. He paused.

"No." Rutherford breathed.

"What is it?" Eliot asked concerned.

"It's not here." His voice hitched up a notch.

"You've got to be kidding me." Eliot moaned. "You told someone didn't you?"

"NO!" Rutherford cried. He pulled a plastic 25 cent ring you would buy from a grocery store toy dispenser in the shape of a purple flower out of the center drawer.

"Apparently, whoever took the real ring thinks this is a joke." Eliot admonished. Rutherford nodded.

"I'm going to get some of the other guys to fan out, the perp couldn't have gotten far." Eliot tried to console him, but Rutherford was beyond repair. He was a wreck as he slid down to the floor. "Maybe you need a vacation." Eliot offered as he left the vault.

Eliot b-lined for the front exit in a futile attempt to search for the ring and the person that stole it. Like clockwork, Hardison pulled up in his black sedan, Parker in the back. He jumped in to the passenger's seat and they sped off.

"That guy needs to find a new job." Eliot commented at a safe distance.

Parker nodded in the backseat.

"Did you get it?" Eliot asked as he craned his neck to look back at Parker.

"Why do you think I'm the one driving?" Hardison inserted. "She can't keep her eyes off the damned thing."

It was true, Parker was in the backseat transfixed on her new diamond. The grin on her face was wide and she flipped the ring over a few times before sliding it onto her finger.

"It's perfect." She breathed.

"Don't get comfortable Parker, we have to give it to Marat in less than twenty-minutes."

Parker leaned her head to the side, in thought.

Hardison chuckled mocking what he expected her to be thinking. "Nate or the Diamond? Nate or the Diamond?"

"Nate will kill you when he finds out that you considered keeping the diamond over rescuing him." Eliot smirked.

Parker shrugged. She knew that there was no question where her loyalties stood, but she couldn't deny that she had longed to wear that ring and watch it sparkle. She stared at it and glanced up watching it reflect on the car ceiling.

"You know where we are going, right?" Eliot asked, looking out the window.

"Mapped it out last night." Hardison turned his head to answer Eliot.

"Good." Eliot answered. "We need to be careful. This is definitely a trap and we haven't had a chance to identify our exit strategy or our cover points."

Hardison nodded. He looked in the rearview mirror at Parker but she continued to stare at the ring.

After another fifteen minutes of driving along with one quick detour on the way they stopped next to the city park entrance. Following the instructions they made their way to the park center where a large round fountain sat majestically with a mermaid squirting a stream of water out of her mouth.

Eliot moved first, furtively glancing left and right. Everywhere he looked was yet another tree where multiple snipers could be waiting to take them out that very second. Parker and Hardison moved up closer probably realizing the same thing. As they walked around the wide fountain they made their way to a lone man sitting with a trench coat and hat on the edge of the fountain flicking pennies in.

"Make a wish." The man said, looking up at them with a smile.

"Emil." Eliot growled.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Next chapter up! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 19

Eliot darted forward ready to pummel him but the man lifted a finger with a slippery grin on his face.

"I would not do that if I were you."

"Where is Nate?" Parker demanded. She didn't look around but could sense that they were being watched.

"First off why don't you all remove your jackets." Emil directed.

"Excuse me?" Hardison guffawed. "We are not going to strip for you, you pervert."

Emil ignored him. Eliot slowly looked around as he removed his jacket. He knew how these drop-offs went. The blackmailer always wanted to make sure that there were no wires or firearms that could threaten their operation. Parker followed suit with her hoodie, then finally, after giving Emil a dirty look, Hardison threw his jacket to the ground.

"Now turn." Emil nodded.

Eliot started to turn and the other two followed suit giving Emil as well as the potential gunman in the trees a chance to verify that they were truly unarmed. He could identify where the gunman were probably hiding by the types of trees in the park. They would want a tree with a lot of visibility on their part, but would be off the beaten path where normal park visitors wouldn't roam. Hardison continued to wear a scowl as Parker watched Emil closely.

Eliot knew he should have been a lot more worried than he was, but after a good night's rest, and a successful con that morning, he felt like today was his day.

"Now it's your turn." Hardison demanded sarcastically.

Emil gave him a 'how cute' smile and ignored his order.

"You know, we liked you a lot better when you were our taxi driver." Eliot joked.

"I try to do my job well." Emil returned smiling at Eliot.

"Where is Nate?" Parker hissed again. Of the three, she was the most hostile. She didn't like talking with someone who threatened to tear her family apart. "I swear I will kill you if you did anything to him."

"No, no, I have nothing to do with the messier parts of the organization, you see, I am just the transporter…the taxi driver." Emil ushered his calming tone that he would reserve for those that travelled in his taxi, but Parker wasn't falling for it.

"Now, if you would like to get down to business, I'd be more than happy to honor your time…I'm sure you have a plane to catch."

Hardison choked out a laugh. "You are honoring our time? How? By blackmailing us and holding our friend hostage?"

Eliot gave Hardison a look. He was tired of the run around and ready to get this transaction complete. It made him a little nervous knowing that these types of deals were never clean, someone always ended up dead. Eliot recalled a few times in Pakistan where he was a part of a few deals that resulted in the death of everyone involved, luckily, everyone except himself and he didn't want to test his luck this time.

"The ring?" Emil asked.

It is in an envelope taped to the side of a mailbox." Eliot explained.

Emil smiled. "You are not as stupid as you look."

Eliot ignored his backhanded compliment and continued. "We will give you the address when you give us Nate."

Emil gave a slight nod of the head. "Here is what will happen." Emil exclaimed. "We will both put the address down next to the fountain here," he pulled out a sheet of paper from his coat pocket, "and switch places."

Eliot pulled out his address sheet as well.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Parker questioned trying to peer through his eyes and into his soul.

"You don't. But I feel that we are both on the same boat. I do not know if you have given me the correct address and you do not know if I have given you your friend."

This did not satisfy Parker, but she was aware that all she could do at this point was hope that the mob could be trusted. She groaned inwardly at the thought.

Hardison's heart pumped as he watched both men lay their respective slips of paper on the fountain's edge and switch sides. It was slow and Hardison was sure that once they got to their slip of paper, snipers from the trees would shoot them down like they were target practice. Parker hastily picked up the sheet of paper.

They were surprised to receive a curt and respective nod from Emil as he walked off.

"That was weird." Eliot said staring after Emil. "A trade off never goes that smoothly."

"Well, I'm getting out of here. They could kill us any minute now." Hardison pushed Eliot and Parker towards the park entrance looking nervously around.

"If they wanted to kill us, they would have done it already." Eliot responded.

All three walked back to the car with a quick pace. Parker remained uncharacteristically quiet until they were all secured in the car with the doors locked.

Hardison leaned around the seat to look at her. She hadn't taken her eyes off the sheet of paper the entire time.

"So, where to?" Hardison asked.

Parker was quiet for another few seconds before she looked up. "You guys aren't going to believe this."

Eliot groaned. "He did give us an address, didn't he?"

Parker nodded. "Yep."

"So…" Hardison urged waiting for her to explain.

"Nate's at the costume shop." Parker said looking up at them. They stared back at her in surprise.

"You've got to be kidding me." Eliot breathed.

Parker shook her head.

"For fuck sake, are you telling me that we could have gotten Nate yesterday morning?" Hardison added exasperated.

Parker nodded holding the piece of paper up for them to see.

After a few irritated remarks they began their trip back to the costume shop.

"You know, I would have found him." Parker mentioned quietly from the back seat.

"What do you mean?" Eliot asked glancing back at her, then reached to a knob on the dashboard to turn the air down.

"I was going to pick the lock in the back of the store." She said it in a way that Hardison hated, the self loathing, guilt ridden way. Eliot thought back to the day before where he had to carry her out of the costume shop fireman style because she froze at the back door. He had to admit it would have been nice if she had found Nate yesterday, but it made no difference now.

"Parker, it's not your fault, we were all there." Hardison shared, trying to build her spirits. "I talked with the damned owner and didn't notice a thing. He tried every 10 seconds to follow you back there and I didn't even recognize it." Hardison gave her a loving smile through the rearview mirror.

"I know" she attempted a smile, but it faded, "but this all could have been avoided if I had just picked that stupid lock."

"Well now's your chance Parker." Eliot stated, ending the conversation.

They rode for another few minutes until they came upon the corner building with fake spider webs covering the windows, plastic bats hanging from a wire and miniature plastic goblins sitting by the door.

"It looks closed." Hardison spoke up squinting. The doors were shut and the lights were out.

"This is a trap." Eliot exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter. I am going in there." Parker was resolute and knew after the last 24 hours she'd had, no one better stand in her way.

"Okay, okay. But let's have a plan at least." Eliot resolved.

Hardison made a big U-Turn and parallel parked next to the sidewalk across the street. Once he turned the car off, he reached over Eliot to the passenger side glove compartment and pulled out a small box. Both Eliot and Parker smiled as he handed them each their ear bud.

"The biggest thing I'm worried about," Eliot began, "is if we get inside and they ambush us."

Parker nodded considering the options.

"I can get upstairs, the lock was simple." Parker answered.

"What if they are upstairs?" Hardison asked slightly worried about Parker barging upstairs with a room full of mob goons.

"No." Eliot responded, "They will try to cut us off." He paused. "Okay, here's what we'll do. Parker, you head upstairs and get Nate, I'll guard the downstairs entrances. Hardison you stay here and watch the perimeter. Make sure that you let us know if anyone walks by."

"I'm not letting you guys go in there alone." Hardison directed. In all honesty he hated that his gift kept him away from the action.

Parker put her hand on his shoulder. "We need you to be out here if anything goes wrong. You have to rescue us."

Hardison stopped. They locked eyes for a brief moment before she pulled her hand away.

"I still don't like it." He mumbled.

"Parker." Eliot interrupted. Parker looked over at him. "Are you sure you can handle the costumes this time?" Though he had complete confidence in her abilities didn't want any surprises when they went in.

"It won't be a problem." She answered more sure of herself than ever.

"Okay." Eliot sighed before he opened the door.

Both Eliot and Parker hopped out of the car, surveyed the area and made their way to the front door. Everything was as it was the day before except this time it was closed, and more eerie, if possible.

Eliot looked around then proceeded to slam his boot through the glass door pane. Parker took a protective step back as the glass shattered and cascaded across the sidewalk. Eliot carefully reached under and unlocked the door.

Walking in, Parker stole a few paper clips from the front counter and headed to the back of the shop.

"You okay?" Hardison asked over the com.

"Yes, shut up." Parker chastised. The truth was she was more nervous than ever. Not only did she have to face the demon of potentially losing Nate, but now she had to face her fear of horses too. It was just icing on the cake. She slowly walked down the dark aisle paying close attention to any noises. She glanced back at Eliot who was cautiously walking twenty paces behind her checking behind piles of costumes and under table clothes. _This is it_, Parker thought to herself. Eliot had since turned around and she was coming up on the door.

She stopped. The door was still locked and the horse costume was still hanging there as if guarding the entrance to hell. It looked even more grotesque and conniving in the dark, Parker noticed. She felt a chill slide down her spine.

"You can do this." Parker said to herself. She was relieved that no one spoke, giving her a chance to concentrate. With a quick breath, and without a second thought, Parker charged up to the horse costume. It hung high up giving the impression of a looming monster ready to engulf her. With a moment's hesitation she reached up and pulled the costume down with a jerk. The clink told her that it was loose and she threw it. It landed a few feet away in a pile on the floor.

A confident smile quickly took her face by surprise. She hadn't realized how liberating that would feel. With a quick nod she used the paper clips to fiddle around with the lock. After a few jiggles she heard the click. Quickly pulling the lock off the door she grasped the handle turning it slowly.

"I'm going in." Parker stated.

Eliot took another look around hanging back making sure no one entered through the front. Hardison sat nervously in the car picking at his finger nails.

Parker slowly opened the door with a creak and glanced in. There was no room, just a set of stairs. As she made her way step by step up the staircase she observed the chipping paint on the walls. A few trinkets lay on the edges of the stairs, most likely overflow from the store. Parker's feet barely made a sound as she listened for any signs of life. She couldn't hear a thing, but managed to reach the top of the stairs where a door stood between her and Nate. She then held her breath as she turned the handle.

Parker peeked her head around the door first then pulled the rest of her body inside.

The room was dark, but a dirty window allowed a few rays of light to filter through. She looked around identifying a large safe, empty, a table with a few sheets of paper something scribbled on them and…no Nate.

"We have a problem." Parker stated as she walked around.

"I knew they were lying." Hardison complained.

"Wait…"Parker took a few steps across the room over to the corner.

"What is it?" Eliot said, alert.

"Oh my God." Parker whispered.

"What is it?" Eliot yelled.

"Get out Eliot." Parker yelled back at him.

"Parker!" Eliot tried taking a step forward.

"Do it now!" Parker hollered with a choked voice.

Eliot was torn. His first instinct was to run up there. He felt so stupid for letting her go up there herself.

"Parker, what is it?" Hardison shouted. Eliot turned and watched Hardison race up behind him out of breath with wild eyes.

"Parker?" Hardison yelled again. "PARKER!"

Hardison was just about to race to the stairwell when a deafening explosion erupted from the floor above. Both Hardison and Eliot covered their ears and stabilized themselves as the entire building shook.

"PARKER!" Hardison yelled again attempting to dart to the door. He couldn't make it though, not only because Eliot was dragging him backwards out of the building, but because pieces of ceiling tile started to fall. Eliot pulled Hardison out of the building, which they now noticed was up in flames. The entire second floor was smoking. The windows were blown through and fire whipped from inside the building.

They watched a moment longer, then without warning they heard a cracking sound. Hardison's face was frozen in horror. He slowly watched as the building buckled in on itself crumpling to the ground.

Hardison was frozen still. Eliot's fists were clenched white. Neither could utter a single word.

Parker was dead.


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: You guys make me laugh. :) Eliot gets shot, no big deal, Hardison falls off a building, worse things have happened, but if something happens to Parker all hell breaks loose!

Well here's another chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews!

Chapter 20

Eliot had his foot slammed on the gas pedal. His mind was a jumble of horror and anger. He looked over at Hardison who stared blankly at the dashboard.

After the explosion they stood there in revulsion having no idea what to do. No one could have survived an explosion like that. Hardison started shaking. Eliot heard the sirens in the back ground and knew they needed to leave immediately. If caught, the Police would arrest them for the building collapse, and would probably know their faces from the Lady Luck ring theft as well. As much as it pained him, he had to do what Hardison couldn't. He had to get them away.

As they drove Hardison continued to stare at the dashboard. He ran scenario after scenario through his mind on how she could have escaped, but every time the vision of the explosion and collapse returned. When he watched the building fall, his heart had stopped.

"Hardison."

Hardison heard nothing, going through another scenario.

"Hardison snap out of it." Eliot shouted giving him a hard slap across the face.

With this Hardison looked up at him with a furious expression, but it quickly disappeared.

"We need to find Nate." Eliot said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Hardison fumed. He had just lost the woman of his dreams, he wasn't about to do anything else, for the rest of his life.

"Hardison, what would Parker want us to do?" Eliot asked.

With that, Hardison immediately sent a fist flying at Eliot's face. It caught the side of Eliot's jaw.

"Don't you dare say her name." Hardison shrieked. "This is your fault."

Eliot didn't even try to protest. He felt that way too. It was his plan to have her go in alone. He was responsible. Eliot thought back to how Parker had been acting all day. She kept repeating that it was all her fault, and couldn't help but feel guilt ridden. Both Hardison and himself were irritated by it, but now he understood how she felt. He understood how the awfulness seeped through the skin making you want to pull it off to lose the horrible feeling. Eliot felt even worse that now he understood and she wasn't there to console him.

"I know." Eliot answered icily.

Hardison stopped. He had expected a fight. More than anything he wanted a fight. In all honesty he knew it wasn't Eliot fault at all, but he needed a place to vent his anger and of all the times, this was the one where Eliot wasn't in the mood for a fight.

There was silence as they sat parked on the side of the road. It seemed to go on forever. Neither knowing what to do next.

"There was something that Marat said." Hardison started.

Eliot stared out the window.

"He talked about Nate 'sweeming with zee feeshes.'" Hardison imitated.

Eliot jerked his head around.

"He's going to drown Nate."

"Or already has." Hardison added. He then pulled out a phone from his pocket.

Eliot looked at him questioningly.

"Found it in my room last night." He said distracted as he pushed buttons. A minute or so later it stopped. "This has to be it." Hardison held the iphone touch screen up for him to see.

"So you want to save Nate now?" Eliot asked.

Hardison paused. "I want to kill them. All of them."

Eliot noticed his eyes darker then he had ever seen them. The typical silly, joking Hardison vanished and was replaced with this shell of fury and determination.

Without another word, they sped off towards the docks.

The sun was getting higher in the sky, temperature rising not only outside but within the hitter and hacker as well. Both letting anger and fury build up inside of them. Eliot knew he could keep his emotions in check to get the job done, but wasn't so sure about Hardison.

Arriving at the docks, Eliot didn't hesitate to drive right in. Everything was basically abandoned, a few broken down ship parts, a few crates and a dockside.

Both Hardison and Eliot began to walk straight up to the group of men standing at the edge of the dock.

"That wasn't very smart, Marat." Eliot called out.

The large man jerked his head over to them, first giving a shocked and angered look, but then quickly transforming it into a polite grin.

"Of course, you would like your friend back, yes?" Eliot nodded.

"Very well." Hardison looked as Marat motioned someone out from behind the building.

He also saw Victoria, with her broken nose and bandaged arm leaning up against the building wall examining her ring finger with pleasure. The Lady Luck Diamond Ring. The thing that had been the reason for this entire mess. A dragon rose from the pit of his stomach.

Hardison was momentarily distracted as he watched a mob thug drag Nate from behind the building out to see them.

Eliot took a step forward. Hardison gave a good look at him. He had obviously been assaulted a few times since yesterday, still moving, albeit slowly, but moving none the less.

"Nate!" Eliot called.

Nate looked up surprised, a visible look of relief crossing his beaten features.

"Nah, uh, uh." Marat said shaking his head. Without realizing it, both Hardison and Eliot felt the butt of a rifle against the backs of each of their necks.

"You are going to die, my friend." A voice from behind Hardison whispered in his ear.

Hardison slowly turned and watched as the barman turned the rifle to the front of his chest preparing to fire.

"But first," Marat called as Hardison and Eliot were pushed forward. "I vant to show you another fun game zat I like to play."

Hardison and Eliot both made to move but they were further surrounded by another ten gangsters acting as a barrier between them and Nate.

Both men watched in terror as Nate was shoved into the large safe. Marat slammed the door shut and spun the dial, officially locking Nate inside.

Eliot made a low growl.

"Now zee fun part." Marat grinned evilly.

Without warning three of the larger thugs moved up to the safe and shoved it over the edge and into the harbor.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Chapter 21:

"NATE!" Eliot and Hardison hollered simultaneously. They couldn't believe what depths of evil Marat would sink to.

"That's it. You are dead." Eliot threatened. Hardison looked over at him, finally ready to kick some ass.

Both glanced over at one another, and then moved forward.

The bartender pushed the butt of the rifle deeper into Hardison's chest. Hardison quickly grabbed the rifle with both hands and yanked it out of the barman's grasp. The man jumped in surprise. Without warning Hardison swung the hilt end of the gun across the bartenders face. The bartender quickly lost balance and fell to the ground.

Hardison wanted to leap into the water after Nate but was being overwhelmed by thugs. Moreover, once he jumped in, how was he going to crack the code and get the safe open?

Within seconds there was a commotion as a golden bullet raced through the crowd. Everyone stopped in surprise. There, beyond anybody's comprehension was Parker, weaving in and out of thugs all the way to the water's edge. Without hesitation she dove into the murky water after Nate.

"How-?" Hardison was dumbfounded but he didn't have a chance to question it. The bartender was already getting back up. With a renewed sense hope and determination Hardison prepared his 'nutty boxer' stance ready to beat the crap out of this guy. He threw the gun towards the water as the bartender came after him. Hardison ducked as the bartender sent a fist his way. Hardison quickly spun around trying to make his way behind the bartender. He twisted about half way around as the bartender lunged at him tackling them both to the ground. They rolled around, both avoiding each other's knees and elbows.

Meanwhile, Eliot was flabbergasted. Had he really just seen Parker appear or was it his imagination finally driving him mad? Everyone else watched as she darted like a cat through the crowd and it gave him a newfound sense of strength.

While Hardison was fumbling around with the bartender, Eliot had the responsibility of defeating 11 men. Some he recognized from the previous fight.

"Nice nose job." He teased. The man he had first punched out at The Volcano Club was livid and charged at him again. Eliot smiled, moved forward and sent another fist flying at his nose. The impact caused the goon to shriek as blood spluttered from his nose. He fumbled backward toward Victoria who shoved him out of the way and onto the ground nearby whimpering in pain.

The other men after him were more cautious. Two smaller but bulkier men moved forward, one with a chain and the other with fists out. Both on either side lunged at him. He ducked as the first man accidentally wrapped the chain around his partner's neck. Eliot whipped around jabbing his elbow in the first chain-holding man's neck teetering him off balance. He then grabbed a hold of the chain, whipping the second man who was momentarily trapped, into the air, flying and then finally landing with a thump near the quarreling Hardison and barman. A new taller and lankier man came forward, and Eliot whipped the chain around the lanky thugs wrists, pulled him forward and then slammed his left foot into the lanky man's kneecap. The crack of breaking bone and bloodcurdling cry was heard by everyone.

"Four down." Eliot taunted. "Bring it on."

The remaining seven looked at one another and without speaking moved in. Eliot bent his knees slightly, preparing himself for what was to come.

The first few jumped in trying to kick his knees out. He laughed at the fact that they were already copying his moves. With their legs up, he quickly took his leg and scooped it under theirs flipping them to the ground as he spun to face the other side. They sent in punches that Eliot easily deflected. Without warning a man from behind grabbed him by the neck holding it tight. Eliot quickly took hold of him then kicked himself up against the man in front, breaking his nose, while flipping over the goon that had him from behind. He landed behind the goon that had his neck and proceeded to shove his head forward into goon number nine.

The flurry of fighting made Marat more and more nervous. No one had ever tested his power like this before. Of the four troublemakers, Nate had been the most difficult; constantly weaseling his way into the minds of his men since he'd been kidnapped, bringing a sense of fear to his organization.

Parker felt her adrenaline pumping again that day. She was sore, but sprinted from the entrance towards the dock. She watched as they shut the safe door and shoved it into the water. Parker's eyes went wide and she sprinted even faster, weaving through thugs not giving them a chance to react.

She had just enough time to glance at Eliot and Hardison. She warmed inwardly at the looks on their faces.

Without another beat she dove into the water. The green gray harbor was bitter cold as she swam deeper and deeper. She couldn't see but a few inches in front of her face but moved her arms around attempting to feel for the safe. She had learned many years ago how to hold her breath for a long time, but wasn't sure if that time would be enough to find the safe, figure out the combination and get Nate out before her air expired and the oxygen in the safe was used up.

Deeper and deeper she went. Ears beginning to pop when her hand landed on something metal. She felt herself reach the bottom of the harbor and felt for the dial. Her lungs were burning and she was beginning to lose focus.

She had to pull her face right up to the dial to see the numbers. She ignored the slimy fish that slicked their way by her sliding against her leg. Everything had to disappear as she concentrated.

She took a moment and thought to herself as she came up with the dial code, and it didn't take long before she started spinning numbers.

Spots were starting to appear in front of her. She knew she didn't have much time left. The burn in her lungs was like fire and her eyes hurt from being open in such dank and dingy waters. _Stay focused._ She said to herself. _Stay awake._ As she turned the last number she felt a click with her hand and new that it was unlocked.

Her heart gave an excited thump but her vision began to blur. She reached for the handle and pulled as hard as she could. It wouldn't budge. She tried again, getting weaker by the second. Nothing. The force that water pulled on the door was magnificent.

With one final heave, all the energy she had left in her put into this one moment she pulled as hard as she could. The spots were bigger than ever and everything was darkening. A few bubbles flew to the surface as she grunted underwater. Then she felt it, like a mother pulling a car off her child, the safe door began to pull open.

Then her body gave out and everything went black.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

Hardison and Eliot managed to successfully subdue each goon they came in contact with. Only Victoria and her father Marat stood silently in awe of the situation, knowing they didn't stand a chance.

Eliot had since thrown Hardison a gun and they both held the father and daughter at gunpoint waiting for Parker and Nate to resurface.

Eliot glanced from the water to Marat and back again. Hardison was nervous; it had been quite a while since they had gone under.

"I should go in after her." Hardison decided.

"Just give it a minute." Eliot responded, not looking any less nervous.

"Eliot." Hardison admonished, ready to leap in after Parker. The last thirty minutes where he thought she had been dead were the worst in his life. The feeling of dread and emptiness hit him like a brick wall. All he could see during that time was red. He glanced over at the unconscious barman. He really didn't deserve that severe of a beating, Hardison thought, but took pride that he was the one to deliver it. That guy always managed to piss him off.

"Just wait-" Eliot started but was interrupted when a figure broke the water's surface.

"Watch them!" Eliot called to Hardison. He nodded and switched his aim between both Marat and Victoria now.

Eliot darted to the water's edge as Nate dogpaddled over pulling an unconscious Parker with him. He leaned her up as best he could. Eliot grabbed under her armpits and lifted her soggy body out of the water.

"She's not breathing." Nate coughed as he was also lifted up onto the dock. Nate fell to his knees and crawled over to Parker. Hardison was wild as stared between Marat, Victoria and Parker.

"What's going on?" He called, getting more hyper the longer Parker remained motionless.

Nate began the Heimlich Maneuver. Eliot sped over to Hardison taking the gun and Hardison rushed over to Parker. He slid to his knees and began breathing air into her lungs.

"One, two, three, four." Nate counted as he slammed his palms into her chest forcing her lungs and heart to come to life.

Four more minutes of this and sirens began sounding in the background.

"Anything?" Eliot called.

Hardison refused to answer, the chance of her making it becoming less optimistic by the second.

"Looks like the little bitch won't be making it after all." Victoria spat.

Eliot walked up to her and but the gun on her forehead. She froze.

"I _will_ shoot you." He spoke calmly, with the undertones of someone who wasn't afraid to kill.

Victoria gulped and remained silent as Marat moved his hand in front of her. Though she looked like a dangerous vampire in her leather and high heels, she gave the distinct impression of a young child needing protecting by her father.

"Parker" Hardison choked.

"Hardison, one more and that's it." Nate said. Hardison gave him a stern look.

"One, two, three, four." Nate pounded harder than ever as Hardison pushed one large breath down her throat.

They waited. Seconds went by and Hardison's heart began to break.

Without warning, Parker erupted into a fit of coughs as her body sprung to life in a fit of spasms. Water spurted out of her throat as she gasped for air.

"Parker!" Hardison exhaled as he grabbed her and held her tight. Nate looked up to Eliot who's shoulders dropped in relief.

"Hands up, all of you!" A police officer called from behind them.

Hardison ignored them. He watched as Parker smiled at Nate, then at him. He gave her arm a squeeze and she drifted back into unconscious.

Nate looked at her concerned.

"Sleeping." Hardison answered as he raised one arm in surrender to the police.

Marat and Victoria were immediately arrested, not putting up of a fight against Eliot, well known by the police for their trouble within the city. Eliot placed the gun on the ground and put his arms up as he spoke with an officer.

After noticing Parker and Nate's wear and tear, some of the police officers ordered an ambulance.

"It's good to have you back Nate." Eliot said shaking his hand.

"Yeah, it's good to be back." Nate answered. "So, what the hell happened the other night?"

"You don't want to know." Hardison inserted helping a medic put Parker up on the gurney.

"It was Parker, wasn't it?" He asked.

"How in the hell did it only take you two seconds to figure it out when it took us an entire 24 hours?" Hardison gawked.

"It took you two 24 hours?" Nate laughed.

"It took me 24 hours." Eliot added. "Hardison had to be told."

"You do not want to go and start something with me, Eliot, I am a fighting machine now." Hardison threatened buffering up after his domination over the bartender.

"Congratulations Hardison, you knocked one guy out. Do 10 more and maybe it will be a fair fight." Eliot jeered.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Well, at least were all alive to see it."

"Ermmm…" Eliot bit his lip.

"What?" Nate asked concerned.

Hardison managed to blurt it out before Eliot could come up with the words. "When we get home, I think Sophie might kill you."


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note:

Well, this is it everyone.

Thank you so much for reading. I know that I wouldn't have had the dedication to finish it if it weren't for you.

I've already started writing my next one (though I'm not sure when I will post). My next fic is more of a drama/adventure with the entire team (I know a few of you missed Sophie and Nate this time).

Don't forget to review the entire story. If there is anything you loved or hated, let me know!

Thanks again everyone!

-TheKillerTigerbunny

Epilogue

Parker felt like she had been asleep for days. The murky ceiling came slowly into view. Everything in her tried to pull her back into unconsciousness but she groaned and rolled on her side. Parker quickly realized she was not in her own room; it was Nate's upstairs bedroom. She was very familiar with it thinking back to the time when she had to pretend she had been murdered after a night of passion with the crooked hokey player.

The vague sound of music filled her ears and she looked at the lump sprawled out in the chair a few feet away. He laid, head back against the seat, computer in his lap, and headphones over his ears blasting music. She pulled herself in a sitting position feet dangling off the side of the bed. She leaned over to see a few empty orange soda bottles lying haphazardly on the floor and smiled. Tiptoeing up to him she leaned close to his face. His snoring was quiet but insistent. She knew he was out. If he had been awake he would have probably expected her to kiss him, they were so close. She inspected the welt on his cheek and glanced over at the desktop screen. She grinned seeing herself, Nate, Eliot and Hardison all decked out in their Comic Con costumes. They seemed to be having the best time and she felt a warm swell in her heart seeing the picture again.

Retreating from his sleeping figure she made her way down the spiral staircase. Everything was quiet and she thought herself alone until someone in the kitchen spoke up.

"You're awake." Nate said as he stood over the stove.

Parker walked up and perched herself on a stool across from Nate. She stretched her arms out high above her head the flopped them down on the counter eyeing his omelet. Both Nate and Parker heard her stomach give a grumble.

Parker watched as he flipped the omelet over with a spatula then reached behind to grab a plate. He then picked the pan up and let the omelet slide onto the plate. He then placed a fork on the plate, grabbed the full cup of orange juice sitting on the counter next to him and handed them to Parker.

"You've been asleep for two day's Parker."

Parker looked up in surprise as she cut a bite of omelet. She tasted bits of bacon and a few other ingredients that made her mouth water.

"How long has Hardison been up there?" Parker asked with her mouth full.

He gave her a look and repeated himself. "Two days."

Parker nodded and went silent.

"Where are Sophie and Eliot?" Parker asked looking over at the couches though she knew they weren't there.

"Just finishing up a few things at VexCorp." He answered, referenced the con that Sophie had been handling alone this past week.

"Oh! I forgot." Parker slapped her palm to forehead. She was an integral part of the theft at the gala and she had missed it.

"Don't worry" Nate chuckled, "we got it covered. Just a few minor tweaks and Sophie's brilliant thinking."

Parker nodded somewhat relieved. There was another silence.

"Nate?" She was nervous that they were alone together after all the mess that she had put him through.

"Yeah?" He asked as he began making another omelet, hoping this time he would actually get to eat it.

"I'm sorry about…you know…getting you kidnapped by the mob." She said hastily, taking a quick sip of orange juice.

Nate paused and looked at her. He was surprised at how guilt ridden she looked. He had never seen her really own up to the pain she inflicted on others. She usually made things awkward, and people got over it. This time, he could tell, she really cared.

"Parker." He looked at her but she refused to look up. "Parker." He said more sternly. His fatherly tone brought her eyes to his. "We are family. We are there for each other no matter what."

"I know, but-" Parker tried to protest.

Nate held up his hand to silence her.

"No. You were there for me when I hit rock bottom and this is nothing compared to that. You saved my life Parker. Do you realize that? You jumped into that disgusting river, figured out the safe code and got me out. Hell, you rushed into a building with a bomb to rescue me."

"Well, I didn't actually know there was a bomb." Parker flushed.

"That's beside the point." He waved.

After a momentary pause. "Oh, and while we are on the subject, how in the hell did you manage to figure out that safe combination underwater?"

Parker sat up a little higher at this one, ready to answer, but was interrupted by a voice from behind.

"It's always the wife's birthday." Hardison spoke up as he came to sit on the stool next to her.

Parker nodded, giving Hardison a sidelong grin. "When I took the police car after the explosion I found Marat's profile and his wife's was linked."

"Brilliant." Nate exclaimed as he flopped the second omelet on the plate and handed it reluctantly to Hardison.

"On that note, I have another question." Hardison spoke up.

She looked over at him expectantly as she finished off her omelet.

"How did you...get out-" He almost choked this, the momentary emotion spilling over. "-of the shop?"

"Did I mention that I'm really good with locks?" Parker asked.

"Well, I think that's a little obvious Parker." Nate interrupted.

"Well, when I saw the bomb it was set at ten seconds, but the minute I walked over there, the timer tripped and it started counting down. There must have been a camera or something." Parker started.

"That still doesn't explain how you got out." Hardison nudged.

Parker gave a frustrated huff telling Hardison without words to shut up and listen.

"I saw an empty safe." She answered. "I jumped inside and it locked shut as the explosion went off. Then when the police came, I just…stole the car."

Hardison looked at her in shock. "You locked yourself in a safe?"

Parker nodded triumphantly.

"And how, may I ask, did you get out?" Though he was more than thrilled that she had actually escaped he couldn't believe that she not only had experience breaking into safes and vaults, but had experience breaking out of them as well.

"I have my secrets." She joked.

"Well" Nate said as he pulled up a chair to finally sit down and enjoy his omelet, "there is one thing I've learned from this whole experience."

Parker and Hardison looked at him questioningly.

"Never put Parker in charge of the entertainment."

_That night:_

The windows were barred shut this time so she had to go in through the skylight. She hated the skylight. The night air was brisk but it felt good to use her cat like reflexes again. The sleep had helped but this brought her alive. She stealthily surveyed the area pulling the skylight door open and hooking her harness to the roof.

Quickly she belayed herself just inside, spraying a can of hairspray to identify any motion sensors. There were a few new ones and she smirked at his lack of innovation. She pulled out her suction cups and began crawling across the ceiling and making her way towards the edge of the ceiling where the far wall took over.

The cameras were all just below her and she silently switched the first one off. She then suctioned her way over to the next one flicking the switch off as well. She was surprised when she looked a few feet below and noticed a heat detector. _I'll give you points for that_. She laughed inwardly as she sprayed the sensor with hairspray immobilizing it.

Finally after a few more cameras and sensors she dropped to the floor without a sound. Everything was pitch black but she could see down into the living room where Hardison sat playing a video game.

"Damn." She hissed to herself. _He's never up this late playing video games. _Usually by this point she would observe him snoring in bed. It didn't deter her.

She tiptoed her way down the stairs, around a few statues and right up behind him. She leaned in right next to his ear.

"Boo!"

Hardison shrieked louder than she had ever heard. The XBox controller flung itself in the air and he leapt off of the couch.

This brought Parker into a fit of laughter as she fell over the back of the couch and onto the cushions. "That was the best!" She howled between fits of giggles.

"How did you-?" Hardison looked over at the computer sitting next to him with all the camera feeds pulled up. Most of them were disabled. He chastised himself for not paying closer attention. He figured she would still need more rest and wasn't expecting to go defensive so soon. She really was a force to be reckoned with.

"You are crazy, you know that?" He smiled, picking up the controller and sitting back down.

Parker nodded bursting into another fit of laughter. "And you are a chicken." She mocked.

The laughter died down a bit and they both sat staring at one another.

"So this was one crazy weekend." He said trying to fill the silence.

"Yeah, I can't believe Eliot was green." Parker recalled smiling.

"I know. That's going to be his new profile picture for e-harmony. I'm sure all the eligible young men in Boston like role play." Hardison said evilly rubbing his hands together.

"Don't be mean. He did save your life." Parker admonished.

"Yeah, yeah. I already thanked him for that. We are even."

"I don't think a thank you quite covers it." Parker pushed further.

"Are you here to tell me to make out with Eliot or be humiliatingly defeated at Halo 2?" Hardison jeered sarcastically.

"Well, I already beat your security system…again, why not beat you at Halo 2 while I'm at it." Parker mused. "Though, this would be a lot more fantastic if I had gotten to keep the diamond."

"Please, Parker. The only reason the police didn't put us in jail was because we recovered it for them. Besides…" Hardison jumped up and walked out of site, quickly returning and sitting down again next to her.

He paused a moment, his voice becoming quieter and huskier, "You don't need the Lady Luck Diamond." He reached for her hand.

She froze. They hadn't had the opportunity to really talk about their feelings yet and she quickly regretted coming over. The flight response in her was ready to take effect but she remained glued to her seat.

His hand was warm and gentle. He opened up his other hand to reveal the twenty-five cent purple flower ring that she had placed in the vault all those days ago.

"Here. You make your own luck." He whispered as he slipped the purple flower on her ring finger.

Parker sat utterly speechless. She stared at the ring, then at Hardison, then back at the plastic ring. Hardison watched her expressions flip flop in the flickering light of the big screen television.

Without another word, both leaned in. Parker's heart started pumping. They were inches apart and Parker could feel his breath on her lips. She wanted to attack him but remained frozen instead. Hardison finally took the initiative and moved the rest of the way in, taking those soft lips in his, just as he had imagined them from the last time. The previous kiss was fast and wild, this one was agonizingly slow. She felt goosebumps and moved in further. His hands made their way to her hair. He had only dreamed of running his fingers through her golden locks and the overflow of this amazing kiss was too much for him to handle. His heart thumped pulling her closer. She was now lying on top of him as they embraced. Each took their time exploring each other's mouths not wanting this intense feeling to end.

Parker finally pulled up a little giving them both a chance to breathe. Her hair fell down around his face as he stared into her eyes.

"So." Hardison brought up. "If I give you another present do we get to do that again?"

Parker smacked him and grabbed for the XBox controller. Both flushed and brimming with emotional charge, turned their energy to Halo 2, though it didn't last long before they were in another tongue tangled lip lock.

_The following evening:_

"I'd like to make a toast." Nate clanked his glass of water interrupting conversation around the table. All five members of the team were finally sitting together around the dining room table in Nate's apartment feasting on Eliot's famous Spaghetti.

Everyone managed to quiet down.

"I'd like to make a toast in honor of Sophie." Nate smiled warmly over to her.

She looked at him surprised and flustered.

Nate continued. "Ramona Ellerby would not have gotten her life savings back from Vexcorp without the dedication and skill of our amazingly talented Sophie Devereaux."

"Here, here" the others chorused.

Everything seemed to be falling back into place. Everyone was laughing and joking as if nothing happened.

"So when are you guys going to tell me?" Sophie spoke up.

"About?" Nate asked.

"Ugh, about what happened while you were gone?" Sophie whined in her British accent. Her keen abilities had picked up on a few bits and pieces but she was particularly wary that all four of her partners spent significant effort to avoid explaining exactly what happened those few days.

"It's a long story." Eliot coughed, the other three nodding vigorously.

Sophie rolled her eyes knowing that she wouldn't get anything out of them.

"Fine, well, let's at least have a little bit of fun tonight. Who's with me?" Sophie asked excitedly.

"I'll get the drinks!" Parker jumped out of her seat.

"NO!" All three men shrieked simultaneously leaping out of their chairs, spaghetti flying everywhere as they spent the rest of the evening chasing after Parker.

The End.


End file.
